validate-commits

name	validate-commits
description	Validate commits before pushing. Runs six deterministic checks: clean worktree, tests pass, no AI co-author leaks (Claude, Anthropic, GPT, OpenAI, Copilot), no conflict markers, no squash/fixup residue, and subject lines conform to the configured style (classic or conventional). Activates on: "validate commits", "check commits before push", "any AI leaks", "check for co-author", "are my commits clean", "validate before pushing", "check commits".
argument-hint	[--base <ref>]

Validate Commits

Run six deterministic checks against unpushed commits. All checks use git commands, grep, and the shared style-check.sh script — no LLM judgment.

Precondition

Require a clean worktree before starting. Run:

git status --porcelain

If output is non-empty, refuse to proceed:

Your worktree has uncommitted changes. Please commit or stash them
before running validation.

Determine Commit Range

Establish the base ref for base..HEAD in this priority order:

1. Explicit --base <ref> argument — use directly
2. Upstream tracking — run git rev-parse @{u} to get upstream ref. If it succeeds, use @{u}..HEAD
3. No upstream — ask the user using AskUserQuestion:
   • Get the latest tag: git describe --tags --abbrev=0 2>/dev/null
   • Offer options:
     • "Use latest tag ()" — if a tag exists
     • "Enter a commit ref" — free text input

Store the resolved base as $BASE for all subsequent checks.

If git log --oneline $BASE..HEAD produces no commits, report "No commits to validate between $BASE and HEAD" and stop.

Checks

Run ALL six checks regardless of individual failures. Collect results, then report everything at once.

Check 1: Clean Worktree

Run: git status --porcelain

• Pass: No output
• Fail: List the dirty files

Check 2: Tests Pass

Detect the project test command by checking for project files in the working directory root:

File	Command
go.mod	go test ./...
package.json	npm test
Cargo.toml	cargo test
pyproject.toml	pytest

Check files in this order. Use the first match. If no project file is found, skip this check and mark as "Skipped (no test command detected)".

Run the detected command. Capture exit code.

• Pass: Exit code 0
• Fail: Show the test command and its exit code

Check 3: No AI Co-Author

Scan all commits in range for AI co-author lines:

git log --format=%B $BASE..HEAD

Search the output for Co-Authored-By: lines matching ANY of these patterns (case-insensitive):

• Names: Claude, Anthropic, GPT, OpenAI, Copilot, GitHub Copilot
• Emails: [e-mail], [e-mail]
• Model refs: Claude Opus, Claude Sonnet, Claude Haiku, Claude Code

For each match, record the commit hash and the offending line.

• Pass: No matches
• Fail: List each commit hash and the matched Co-Authored-By line

Check 4: No Conflict Markers

Get the list of files changed in the commit range:

git diff --name-only $BASE..HEAD

For each file that still exists in the working tree, search for conflict markers:

grep -n '<<<<<<< \|>>>>>>>' <file>

• Pass: No matches in any file
• Fail: List each file and line number with the marker

Check 5: No Squash Residue

Check commit subjects for fixup/squash prefixes:

git log --format=%s $BASE..HEAD

Check each subject line. A subject starting with fixup! or squash! is a failure.

• Pass: No subjects start with fixup! or squash!
• Fail: List each commit hash and subject

Check 6: Subjects Conform to Style

Resolve the active style file:

1. Read .claude/git-commit.local.md and extract the commit_style value from its YAML frontmatter
2. If missing, default to classic
3. Style file path: plugins/commit-tools/styles/<style>.md

Then for each commit in $BASE..HEAD, run the shared style check:

SCRIPT=plugins/commit-tools/skills/review-commits/lib/style-check.sh
for h in $(git rev-list --reverse $BASE..HEAD); do
  subj=$(git log -1 --format=%s "$h")
  if ! reason=$(bash "$SCRIPT" "$subj" "$STYLE_FILE" 2>&1); then
    echo "  ✗ $h '$subj' — $reason"
  fi
done

The script enforces the loaded style's rules. For classic these are: ≤50 chars, leading uppercase, no trailing period, no word: type prefix, imperative mood (best-effort denylist of common past/3rd-person/gerund forms). For conventional: ≤72 chars and the standard type(scope)?: description format.

• Pass: Every subject conforms
• Fail: List each non-conforming commit hash, subject, and reason

Report Results

Display all six results using checkmark/cross format:

Post-commit validation:

  ✓ Clean worktree
  ✓ Tests pass (summary)
  ✗ AI co-author in commit 7ce2788
    Co-Authored-By: Claude Opus 4.6 <[e-mail]>
  ✓ No conflict markers
  ✓ No squash residue
  ✗ Style violation in commit a1b2c3d
    'Spec: declarative agent provisioning' — subject has type-prefix (classic forbids 'word:' prefixes)

If ALL pass: "All checks passed. Ready to push."

If ANY fail: "Post-commit validation failed." followed by the results.

Auto-Fix: AI Co-Author

If Check 3 fails AND all other checks pass (or the user wants to fix incrementally), offer to auto-fix:

Use AskUserQuestion:

Fix automatically? (amends the affected commit to remove the AI co-author line)
○ Yes — remove the co-author line
○ No — I'll handle it

If "Yes":

• For each affected commit (most recent first):
  • Get the full commit message: git log -1 --format=%B <hash>
  • Remove the offending Co-Authored-By: line(s)
  • If the commit is HEAD: git commit --amend -m "<cleaned message>"
  • If the commit is NOT HEAD: use interactive rebase is not possible in this context, so report: "Commit is not HEAD. To fix, run: git rebase -i <hash>^ and edit the commit message manually."
• Re-run Check 3 to confirm the fix worked

If "No": Report the failure and let the user handle it.

No Other Auto-Fixes

Checks 1, 2, 4, 5, and 6 report failures only. The user must fix them. Style violations (Check 6) are typically fixed by running /review-commits, which rewrites drifted subjects against the saved style.