Commit

A request for a commit message authorizes a draft only: inspect the diff, write the message, and stop without staging or committing. When the user asks to commit, create one honest commit from what is actually in the tree. Do not push unless the user asked. Do not amend unless the user asked and the commit is yours and not on a shared remote.

If git is missing or this is not a repository, stop.

Inspect

Run:

git status --short
git diff
git diff --cached
git log -8 --oneline
git rev-parse --abbrev-ref HEAD

If there is no diff and nothing untracked that belongs in the commit, stop: nothing to commit.

Refuse secrets

Load engineering-bar (paths in that skill) and apply Secret files. If any match, stop and tell the user. If AGENTS.md exists, honor it too.

Stage

• Stage only files that belong to the request the user is committing.
• Preserve unrelated working files and pre-existing staging, including partial staging. Record the initial staged paths and patches before changing the index.
• If the working tree mixes two unrelated changes and the user did not say "commit everything," make one commit for the requested change only. Do not silently bundle the rest.
• Do not use git add . unless the user asked to commit all remaining changes and the secret check passed.

Immediately before committing, inspect the exact proposed commit diff, including newly added files, and repeat the secret check on that content. A plain git commit includes every staged path, even paths staged before this task.

If unrelated changes are already staged and the request covers whole files, use a path-limited commit (git commit --only -F <message-file> -- <requested-paths>) after reviewing those files' complete working-tree changes. This includes all working-tree changes in the selected files; do not use it for selected hunks or mixed-purpose files. For those, use an isolated temporary index only if you can preserve and restore the original staging exactly; otherwise stop and explain the overlap. Do not unstage the user's work merely to simplify the commit. Afterward verify both the commit contents and preserved unrelated staging.

Message

Match git log:

• If recent commits use type(scope): subject or type: subject, use that.
• If they are plain sentences, write a plain sentence.
• Subject = what changed and why, from the diff, in the repo's language. No invented files.
• Body only if the "why" does not fit the subject (migration, follow-up, risk).

Omit attribution boilerplate such as "generated by." Mention agents or models when they are the subject of the actual change.

Create the commit

Use a non-interactive commit. The plain commit below is only for an index containing exactly the authorized change. Otherwise use the path-limited or isolated-index procedure above. Prefer a here-doc so quoting stays correct:

git commit -m "$(cat <<'EOF'
subject line

optional body
EOF
)"

If hooks fail, fix the cause (format, lint, test). Do not --no-verify unless the user explicitly asked.

Done

Report:

• Branch
• Commit hash and subject
• Files included
• Files left unstaged
• That you did not push (unless they asked and you did)

If they also asked to open a PR, continue with open-pr.