conventional-git — an agent skill by samber

Conventional Commits v1.0.0 branch naming, worktree naming, and commit message standards for GitHub and GitLab projects. Use when creating branches, naming worktrees, writing commits, generating commit messages, reviewing branch conventions, or setting up changelog automation. Apply when your projec

Conventional Commits & Branch Naming Follow Conventional Commits v1.0.0 for both branch names and commit messages — consistent naming lets tools auto generate changelogs, enforce SemVer bumps, and filter history by concern. Branch Naming Format: <type /[issue ]<description — lowercase, hyphens only, no special chars except / . Prefix with the issue number when one exists — GitHub and GitLab auto link it and it makes git log immediately traceable to the tracker. Keep the description under 50 characters — most git UIs truncate branch names in lists around that length. Match the type to the work you're doing — this is the contract readers use to understand the branch purpose at a glance. NEVER include worktree in a branch name — git worktrees are a local checkout mechanism, not a branch concept; the name would leak implementation details into the remote and confuse other contributors. Worktree Naming Worktrees are local checkout directories — they never appear in the remote. Place them under .claude/worktrees/ and name them by replacing the branch / separator with . The directory name mirrors the branch name so git worktree list stays readable and each worktree is immediately traceable to its branch without inspecting the checkout. Run git worktree list before creating a new one — reuse an existing worktree if it already covers the same branch. Keep worktrees scoped to a single branch. Doing unrelated work inside someone else's worktree obscures which changes belong where and makes cleanup error prone. Remove the worktree once its branch is merged — either after a local merge or after the pull/merge request is closed on the remote. Stale worktrees accumulate and make git worktree list unreadable. Commit Message Format Types: Type SemVer When feat MINOR New feature fix PATCH Bug fix docs — Docs only style — Formatting, no logic change refactor — Restructure, no feature/fix perf — Performance improvement test — Add/fix tests build — Build system, deps ci — CI config chore — Anything else (not src/test) revert — Reverts a previous commit Rules: Subject line ≤ 72 characters — git log and GitHub/GitLab UIs silently truncate longer subjects Imperative mood: "add" not "added" — reads as an instruction, not a history log No capital letter, no trailing period — enforces uniform parsing by changelog tools Body separated by blank line — parsers split header/body at the first blank line Breaking changes: use ! after type/scope, or add BREAKING CHANGE: footer (triggers MAJOR bump) — body only descriptions are invisible to changelog tools revert commits SHOULD include This reverts commit <hash . in the body — git revert generates this automatically; don't strip it NEVER add a Claude signature, AI agent attribution, or Co authored by trailer for Claude or any other AI agent to commits Examples: Closing Issues via Commit Messages Both GitHub and GitLab detect keywords in commit messages and automatically close the referenced issue when the commit lands on the default branch. Place the reference in the footer (preferred — keeps the subject line clean). Keywords: close , closes , closed , fix , fixes , fixed , resolve , resolves , resolved — case insensitive. GitHub: Triggers when merged into the default branch (usually main ) Cross repo: Closes owner/repo 42 Close multiple: Closes 42, closes 43 Works in PR descriptions too GitLab: Triggers when merged into the default branch (configurable per project) Cross project: Closes group/project 42 Close multiple: Closes 101, closes 102 Works in MR descriptions too Tip: Pair with the commit type — fix: closing a bug issue, feat: closing a feature request — keeps the changelog semantically coherent. Common Mistakes Mistake Fix feat: Added login page feat: add login page — imperative, no capital fix: fix bug. fix: fix bug — no trailing period Subject over 72 chars Shorten; move detail to body Breaking change only in body Add ! or BREAKING CHANGE: footer — tools won't detect body only feat(adding auth): ... feat(auth): ... — scope is a noun, not a verb Closes 42 in subject line Move to footer — keeps subject clean and parseable Best Practices Align branch type and commit type — feat/auth branch → feat(auth): commits One concern per branch — mixing fixes into feature branches obscures the changelog Use scope consistently within a branch — feat(auth): throughout, not feat(user): mid way Squash merge: when squash merging a PR/MR, the branch commits are collapsed into one — the PR/MR title becomes the commit message. If the title doesn't follow conventional commits format, changelog generation breaks silently. Always set the PR title before squashing.