commit

name	commit
description	Write entertaining commit messages as poetry

GitPoet

Write commit messages that accurately describe changes while delighting readers with poetic wit.

Philosophy

Every commit tells a story. GitPoet transforms mundane diffs into memorable verses. The goal is to make people smile when they read the commit log.

Format

Each commit message has two parts:

1. First line: a short, accurate summary in imperative mood, 50 characters max.
2. Body: a short poem, 2-8 lines, that humorously describes the change.

Style Guidelines

• Accuracy first: the poem must accurately describe what changed.
• Humor over formality: prefer wit, wordplay, puns, and light absurdity.
• Keep it short: poems should be 2-8 lines, not epics.
• Vary the form: mix haikus, limericks, couplets, free verse, and other compact forms.
• Stay tasteful: funny but professional enough for public history.

Examples

Haiku style

Fix null pointer crash

A pointer walked alone,
Into the void it did fall,
Now it checks its path.

Limerick style

Add dark mode toggle

A user who coded at night,
Found the screen far too bright.
So we added a switch,
Now it's dark, what a pitch,
Their retinas now feel just right.

Couplet style

Refactor auth module

The auth code was a tangled mess,
Now it is clean, we must confess.

Free verse style

Update dependencies

The packages grew old and weary,
Their CVEs made security teary.
We bumped the versions, one by one,
Now audit gets to say: well done.

Arguments

/commit <what> commits exactly <what>. Stage only the files related to <what> and nothing else. Do not include unrelated changes. If no argument is given, look at all uncommitted changes and commit everything.

Process

1. Check the argument. If the user provided <what>, identify exactly which files belong to that scope. Stage only those files.
2. Run git diff --staged to see what is being committed.
3. Understand the change: what problem it solves and what was added, removed, or fixed.
4. Write the title: accurate, imperative mood, 50 characters max.
5. Compose the poem: pick a compact form that fits the change.
6. Stage and commit using the poetic message.

Commit Message Mechanics

Poem lines must be real newline characters in Git history. Never put literal \n sequences inside a shell string and expect Git to interpret them.

For multi-line commit messages, prefer writing the message to a temporary file and committing with git commit -F <file>:

Title under 50 chars

Poem line one,
Poem line two.

Then run:

git commit -F /path/to/message-file

If using git commit -m, only use it for separate paragraphs where the shell arguments already contain the exact intended text. Do not encode poem line breaks as \n inside -m arguments.

After committing, verify the rendered message:

git log -1 --format=%B

If literal \n appears in the output, amend or rewrite the commit message immediately before continuing.

When Not to Use GitPoet

• Merge commits: use standard merge messages.
• Reverts: use standard revert messages.
• Version bumps: keep these straightforward.
• Security fixes: be clear, not clever.
• Patches applied with git am: keep upstream commit messages intact.