name: commit-style
description: GenVM commit message conventions. Use when writing a commit message, squashing/merging a PR, or amending history. Covers the type(scope): summary <emoji> format, the five types, the standard scope set, the gitmoji suffix, and mistakes to avoid (typos, vague "fix CI N").
Writing commit messages in GenVM
Format:
type(scope): short imperative summary <emoji…>
- type — one of five, lowercase (required).
- (scope) — from the standard set below. Optional, but aim for ~80% of
commits to carry one; omit only for genuinely repo-wide changes.
- summary — lowercase, imperative or noun-phrase, no trailing period, ≲70 chars.
- <emoji…> — one to three trailing gitmoji glyphs
marking the precise intent. Use the actual Unicode emoji, not the
:shortcode:.
Most commits want exactly one; reach for a second or third only when the change
genuinely carries more than one intent (e.g. a security fix that is also a
refactor → 🔒️♻️). Order them most-important first. Never more than three.
Examples:
feat(calldata): add lazy decoding ✨
perf(calldata): optimize internally tagged enums ⚡
fix(executor): report entire fees subtree to host 🐛
fix(calldata): defer parsing of forwarded calldata 🔒️⚡
chore(ci): fix macos cache key 💚
chore(build): bump wasmtime ⬆️
docs(executor): add spec for ram consumption 📝
Types
The type is the coarse group; the emoji carries the fine intent.
| Type | Use for | Default emoji |
|---|
feat | new caller-visible capability or API surface | ✨ |
fix | broken behavior corrected | 🐛 |
perf | same behavior, faster or smaller | ⚡ |
docs | documentation / spec only | 📝 |
chore | everything internal (incl. refactors) | see below |
Picking between the blurry ones:
- New behavior a caller can observe →
feat. Correcting wrong behavior → fix.
Same behavior but cheaper → perf. Pure restructure → chore + ♻️.
Emoji by intent
Pick the glyph that best names what kind of change it is — it can be finer than
the type. Common ones:
| Emoji | Meaning | Emoji | Meaning |
|---|
| ✨ | new feature | ♻️ | refactor |
| 🐛 | bug fix | 🔥 | remove code / files |
| 🚑 | critical hotfix | 🎨 | structure / format |
| ⚡ | performance | ✅ | tests |
| 📝 | docs | 💚 | fix CI |
| 🔧 | config | 🚀 | release / deploy |
| ⬆️/⬇️ | bump / drop deps | 🔒️ | security / privacy |
| 🚚 | move / rename | 🔇 | remove logs |
| 🏗️ | architectural change | 🔨 | dev / build scripts |
| 🚧 | work in progress | | |
Full reference: https://gitmoji.dev
A lot of fixes in this repo are security-relevant — untrusted calldata from
other nodes, fee/gas underflows, page limits, sandbox boundaries. When a fix
hardens behavior against malicious or malformed input, mark it 🔒️ (alone, or
paired with 🐛/⚡ when it is also a bugfix or optimization). The lazy-calldata
work, for instance, is partly about not eagerly parsing attacker-controlled
bytes — that earns a 🔒️.
Standard scopes
| Scope | Covers |
|---|
executor | rust executor core — calldata, host, common, rt/supervisor, fees, storage |
wasm | wasm/wasmtime compilation, precompile, wasm features |
wasi | the wasi syscall layer (executor/src/wasi) |
rs-sdk | the rust SDK (executor/crates/sdk-rs) |
py-sdk | the python stdlib / SDK (runners/genlayer-py-std) |
modules | modules in general (interfaces, install, implementation) |
manager | the module manager (modules/implementation/src/manager) |
lua | lua host scripting and configs (genvm-lua) |
webdriver | the webdriver module |
ci | GitHub workflows / CI |
build | build system, nix, release packaging, dependency bumps |
The set is curated, not closed — if a change clearly belongs to a subsystem not
listed, a sensible lowercase scope is fine. Prefer an existing one when it fits
(a calldata change is (executor)).
Body — keep it rare
Prefer a single line. The summary should carry the change on its own; if you're
reaching for a body to explain what changed, tighten the subject instead.
Add a body only when a reader genuinely cannot reconstruct the why from the
diff — a non-obvious tradeoff, a workaround for an external bug, or a subtle
invariant. When you do, write one or two sentences of motivation, not a recap of
the diff and not a bullet list of squashed sub-commits.
Mistakes to avoid (all seen in this repo's history)
- Numbered firefighting —
chore: fix CI, fix CI 2 … fix CI 5. Say
what broke: chore(ci): fix macos cache key 💚. A numbered run means the
messages describe nothing.
batch update (#NNN) with no theme. A merged PR still deserves a one-line
summary of what it does.- Typos — history has
reeipt, absolete, exremely, auto-formater.
Spell-check the subject; it is permanent.
chore: fix tests with no cause. Add it: chore(executor): fix tests after wasmtime rebase ✅.
Checklist
