Commit

Record the current coherent change without inventing governance work or touching unrelated files.

Detect The VCS

Run jj root first. If it succeeds, use only jj: a colocated repository also contains .git, so probing Git first picks the wrong tool. Only if jj root fails, use git rev-parse --git-dir.

Inspect changes with jj status and jj diff, or git status --short, git diff, and git diff --cached. The repository is governed when gov/ exists.

Hard Stops

• This is the only workflow that issues raw commit commands.
• Do not create or reactivate a Work Item just to make a commit.
• Do not perform RFC or ADR lifecycle transitions.
• Do not commit governed changes while govctl check fails.
• Do not absorb, revert, or reformat unrelated user changes.
• Stop when substantive implementation has no matching active or completed Work Item and is not spec-only governance maintenance.

Traceability

In a governed repository, run govctl check and govctl work list active. Use the Work Item already identified by context or the diff; query govctl work list done only if none is. Spec-only changes need no Work Item.

For a matching active Work Item:

• tick only criteria the diff satisfies;
• move it to done only when all criteria and effective guards pass; and
• add a note only for a durable constraint or retry rule, never for progress, validation output, review state, or the commit itself.

An item may already be done; keep the closure and implementation in one commit.

Commit Boundary

Review the full diff, including generated and governance files. The commit is one explainable outcome. If unrelated work shares the current jj change, stop and split it (jj split --help) or ask the user. With Git, stop if the index already holds unrelated staged changes.

Message format, with the type chosen from the outcome (feat, fix, refactor, docs, test, chore):

<type>(<area>): <short summary>

Record it without opening an editor; use stdin for multi-line messages:

jj describe -m "<type>(<area>): <summary>"
jj new

git add -- <reviewed-path>...
git commit -m "<type>(<area>): <summary>"

Report

The commit ID and subject, the Work Item status if any, the govctl check result, and whether the working copy is clean afterwards.