qui-conventional-commits

Format commit messages using the Conventional Commits specification. Use when creating commits, writing commit messages, or when the user mentions commits, g...

Security Scan

This is an instruction-only skill that provides Conventional Commits formatting guidance and does not request credentials, install software, or perform I/O — its requirements and instructions are coherent with its stated purpose.

Purpose & Capability

Name/description match the content: the skill only contains guidance for formatting commit messages and requests no unrelated resources.

Instruction Scope

SKILL.md is limited to commit message conventions and examples; it does not instruct reading files, accessing environment variables, calling external endpoints, or executing commands.

Install Mechanism

No install spec or code files are present (instruction-only), so nothing is written to disk or fetched at install time.

Credentials

The skill requires no environment variables, credentials, or config paths — proportional to a formatting guidance skill.

Persistence & Privilege

always is false and the skill does not request persistent or elevated privileges; autonomous model invocation is the platform default and not a concern by itself.

Assessment

This skill is low-risk: it only contains prose instructions for formatting commit messages and does not request secrets, install code, or access files. If you want extra caution, note that the agent using this skill could still generate commit text that includes sensitive content if you or other skills provide repository data—avoid asking it to include secrets in commits. If you do not want the agent to produce commits autonomously, keep autonomous invocation disabled for the agent or review generated commit messages before applying them.

Conventional Commits

Format all commit messages according to the Conventional Commits specification. This enables automated changelog generation, semantic versioning, and better commit history.

Format Structure

<type>[optional scope]: <description>

[optional body]

[optional footer(s)]

Commit Types

Required Types

• feat: - A new feature (correlates with MINOR in Semantic Versioning)
• fix: - A bug fix (correlates with PATCH in Semantic Versioning)

Common Additional Types

• docs: - Documentation only changes
• style: - Code style changes (formatting, missing semicolons, etc.)
• refactor: - Code refactoring without bug fixes or new features
• perf: - Performance improvements
• test: - Adding or updating tests
• build: - Build system or external dependencies changes
• ci: - CI/CD configuration changes
• chore: - Other changes that don't modify src or test files
• revert: - Reverts a previous commit

Scope

An optional scope provides additional contextual information about the section of the codebase:

feat(parser): add ability to parse arrays
fix(auth): resolve token expiration issue
docs(readme): update installation instructions

Description

• Must immediately follow the colon and space after the type/scope
• Use imperative mood ("add feature" not "added feature" or "adds feature")
• Don't capitalize the first letter
• No period at the end
• Keep it concise (typically 50-72 characters)

Body

• Optional longer description providing additional context
• Must begin one blank line after the description
• Can consist of multiple paragraphs
• Explain the "what" and "why" of the change, not the "how"

Breaking Changes

Breaking changes can be indicated in two ways:

1. Using ! in the type/scope

feat!: send an email to the customer when a product is shipped
feat(api)!: send an email to the customer when a product is shipped

2. Using BREAKING CHANGE footer

feat: allow provided config object to extend other configs

BREAKING CHANGE: `extends` key in config file is now used for extending other config files

3. Both methods

chore!: drop support for Node 6

BREAKING CHANGE: use JavaScript features not available in Node 6.

Examples

Simple feature

feat: add user authentication

Feature with scope

feat(auth): add OAuth2 support

Bug fix with body

fix: prevent racing of requests

Introduce a request id and a reference to latest request. Dismiss
incoming responses other than from latest request.

Remove timeouts which were used to mitigate the racing issue but are
obsolete now.

Breaking change

feat!: migrate to new API client

BREAKING CHANGE: The API client interface has changed. All methods now
return Promises instead of using callbacks.

Documentation update

docs: correct spelling of CHANGELOG

Multi-paragraph body with footers

fix: prevent racing of requests

Introduce a request id and a reference to latest request. Dismiss
incoming responses other than from latest request.

Remove timeouts which were used to mitigate the racing issue but are
obsolete now.

Reviewed-by: Z
Refs: #123

Guidelines

1. Always use a type - Every commit must start with a type followed by a colon and space
2. Use imperative mood - Write as if completing the sentence "If applied, this commit will..."
3. Be specific - The description should clearly communicate what changed
4. Keep it focused - One logical change per commit
5. Use scopes when helpful - Scopes help categorize changes within a codebase
6. Document breaking changes - Always indicate breaking changes clearly

Semantic Versioning Correlation

• fix: → PATCH version bump (1.0.0 → 1.0.1)
• feat: → MINOR version bump (1.0.0 → 1.1.0)
• BREAKING CHANGE → MAJOR version bump (1.0.0 → 2.0.0)

When to Use

Use this format for:

• All git commits
• Commit message generation
• Pull request merge commits
• When the user asks about commit messages or git commits

Common Mistakes to Avoid

❌ Added new feature (past tense, capitalized) ✅ feat: add new feature (imperative, lowercase)

❌ fix: bug (too vague) ✅ fix: resolve null pointer exception in user service

❌ feat: add feature (redundant) ✅ feat: add user profile page

❌ feat: Added OAuth support. (past tense, period) ✅ feat: add OAuth support