commit-ai

Let AI write your commit messages. Because life's too short to stare at git commit thinking "how do I describe this mess?"

commit-ai uses GitHub Copilot to turn your staged diff into proper conventional commit messages. You get a terminal dashboard: suggested message streams in, then you commit, regenerate (with different style or a custom instruction), or cancel.

Quick Start

Prerequisites:

• Node.js 25+
• GitHub Copilot CLI

# Install Copilot CLI
npm install -g @github/copilot-cli
copilot auth

# Install commit-ai
cd commit-ai
pnpm install
pnpm link --global

# Use it
git add .
commit-ai

Usage

Interactive dashboard streams AI-generated message → choose Commit, Regenerate, or Cancel.

Common Flags

commit-ai -a          # Stage all changes first
commit-ai -y          # Auto-commit without prompt
commit-ai -d          # Dry run (generate only)
commit-ai --init      # Print config template

All Flags

Flag	Description
-a, --all	Stage all changes first
-y, --yes	Auto-commit without prompt
-d, --dry-run	Generate message only
-e, --explain	List files being committed
-v, --verbose	Debug output
-s, --style <detailed|minimal>	Override message style
--elevation-threshold <n>	Elevate low-priority files (0–1, default 0.8)
--no-import-collapse	Don't collapse import lines
--init	Print config template

Regenerate Options

When you hit Regenerate:

• Same style → Current config
• More detailed → Adds explanation body
• More concise → Subject line only
• Retry with premium model → One-off premium session
• Custom instruction → Your own prompt

Configuration

Create .commit-ai.json in project root or home directory:

{
  "model": "gpt-5-mini",
  "premiumModel": "gpt-5.3-codex",
  "conventionalCommit": true,
  "includeScope": true,
  "includeEmoji": false,
  "maxSubjectLength": 72,
  "verbosity": "normal",
  "maxDiffLength": 8000,
  "maxDiffTokens": null,
  "ignoreWhitespaceInDiff": false,
  "preferPremiumForLargeDiffs": false,
  "elevationThreshold": 0.8,
  "elevationMinLines": null,
  "importCollapse": true,
  "useSummarizationForLargeDiffs": true
}

Config Reference

Model Settings

• model — Default model (gpt-5-mini)
• premiumModel — Premium model (gpt-5.3-codex)
• preferPremiumForLargeDiffs — Auto-use premium for large diffs (default: false)

Message Format

• conventionalCommit — Use feat:, fix:, etc. (default: true)
• includeScope — Add scope like feat(auth): (default: true)
• includeEmoji — Prefix with emoji ✨🐛♻️ (default: false)
• maxSubjectLength — Max subject chars (default: 72)
• verbosity — minimal | normal | detailed (default: normal)

Diff Processing

• maxDiffLength — Max diff chars (default: 8000)
• maxDiffTokens — Max diff tokens, if set uses smaller of this and maxDiffLength
• ignoreWhitespaceInDiff — Use git diff -w (default: false)
• importCollapse — Collapse import lines (default: true)
• useSummarizationForLargeDiffs — When smart diff truncates, use LLM to summarize the full diff for the commit prompt (default: true). Set to false to keep truncation-only.

Smart Prioritization

• elevationThreshold — Elevate low-priority files at this fraction (default: 0.8)
• elevationMinLines — Min total lines to consider elevation (optional)

Environment Override

• COMMIT_AI_MODEL — Override model setting

Large Diffs

Diffs are handled in three tiers so small changes stay fast and huge diffs still get a good commit message:

1. Small diff (length ≤ limit) — Raw diff is sent as-is. No smart diff or summarization.
2. Large diff (length > limit) — Smart diff runs: sanitize (conflict markers), collapse imports (JS/TS, Python, Rust, Go), then prioritize and truncate. If the result fits, that content is used.
3. Smart diff still too large (truncated) — When useSummarizationForLargeDiffs is true (default), a single LLM call summarizes the full prepared diff (sanitize + collapse, no truncation) with a commit-focused prompt; that summary is then used for the commit message. If summarization fails or is disabled, the truncated diff is used and the prompt notes that the diff was truncated.

flowchart LR
  A[Raw diff] --> B{diff length <= limit?}
  B -->|yes| C[Use raw diff as-is]
  B -->|no| D[getSmartDiff]
  D --> E{wasTruncated?}
  E -->|no| F[Use smart-diff content]
  E -->|yes| G[Summarizer LLM on full prepared diff]
  G --> H[Use summary]
  C --> I[Build prompt]
  F --> I
  H --> I
  I --> J[Generate commit message]

Loading

The dashboard shows "Summarizing large diff..." when the summarizer runs. If the diff was large, "Retry with premium model" is suggested; you can also set preferPremiumForLargeDiffs: true to use the premium model automatically for large diffs.

Troubleshooting

Problem	Solution
"Copilot not authenticated"	Run copilot auth
"No staged changes"	Run git add <files> or use -a
Node version error	Install Node 25+

License

MIT