Commit

Minimal commit workflow. Group sensibly, write short, ship.

Authorship

Commits go out in the user's name only. Never add Co-Authored-By: Claude or any other trailer. Never pass --author. Use the existing git config.

Step 1 — Inspect

Run in parallel:

• git status (no -uall)
• git diff (unstaged)
• git diff --staged
• git log --oneline -15 to match existing prefix style

Step 2 — Group

Split the working tree into the smallest number of sensible commits. Default to one commit. Split only when the changes serve clearly different concerns (e.g. a backend fix + an unrelated frontend tweak + a helm config bump).

Commit everything by default, but the tree often holds work from more than one task. If the user names a task, commit only that work and leave the rest in place. List the paths you left uncommitted.

Do not:

• Split a refactor from the behavior change it enables unless the user asked for that separation.
• Bundle untracked junk (logs, .env, dotfiles, *.sqlite3 and other local databases, MEDIA_ROOT uploads, cache files) — ask before staging anything suspicious.
• Use git add -A / git add .. Stage explicit paths.

Step 3 — Message format

Headline (≤72 chars):

<category>: <what changed, imperative, lowercase after colon>

Pick the category from what the change actually touches. Look at recent git log for the conventions in use. Common ones in this repo: backend:, frontend:, helm:, docs:, bugfix:, chore:, refactor:, chat agent:, plus area-specific tags. If a change spans two areas cleanly, prefer splitting; if it genuinely doesn't, drop the prefix rather than inventing a hybrid.

Body (optional, only if the headline isn't enough):

• 1–3 short lines, high-level why not line-by-line what.
• No bullet lists of files changed. No restatement of the diff.
• Skip the body entirely for trivial changes.

Examples of good headlines (from this repo's history):

• frontend: Simplify chat.js & eliminate dead code.
• bugfix: family background message partner
• docs: Add storage recommendations

Step 4 — Commit

For each group, in sequence:

1. Stage explicit paths: git add path/one path/two

2. Commit via heredoc to preserve formatting:

   git commit -m "$(cat <<'EOF'
   backend: fix profile creation when group missing
   
   Group lookup raised instead of creating; mirror the form path.
   EOF
   )"

3. If a pre-commit hook fails: fix the underlying issue, re-stage, make a new commit. Never --amend a failed commit. Never --no-verify.
4. After all commits: git status to confirm clean (or only intentionally-left-unstaged files remain).

Don'ts

• No Co-Authored-By trailer. No "Generated with Claude Code".
• No --amend unless the user explicitly asks.
• No git push. Committing ≠ pushing.
• No emojis in commit messages.
• No multi-paragraph essays in the body.