- argument-hint
- [--all] [--staged] [--natural] [--conventional] [--push] [--close <issue_numbers>] [--finding <finding_ids>]
- compatibility
- Requires Git and ai-commit with automatic ai-coord stale-dirt baseline discovery on PATH.
- effort
- medium
- name
- commit
- description
- Commit staged or intended changes: compose a Conventional Prefix or Natural Language message, then use ai-commit — with --all, --staged, --close, --finding, or --push.
# Git Commit
Compose the semantic commit message from immutable evidence. Let `ai-commit` own deterministic preparation, commit,
index reconciliation, and push mechanics.
Run every command from the target repository cwd. Do not surround `ai-commit` with extra `git status`, `git log`, or
`git diff` calls: preparation provides the complete evidence for this workflow. Use `--porcelain` only in deterministic
automation that explicitly parses its stable TSV records. The normal skill flow consumes the human-readable sections.
## 1. Parse Arguments
Arguments: `$ARGUMENTS`
- `ai-commit` selects the message format from repository config. Pass `--natural` or `--conventional` only as an
explicit one-off override, never to reproduce repository policy.
- `--all`: capture all worktree and index changes. This intentionally risks including another agent's work.
- `--staged`: capture exactly the current index. Do not add session paths. It conflicts with `--all`.
- `--natural`: force Natural Language Format for this commit.
- `--conventional`: force Conventional Prefix Format for this commit.
- `--push`: request a push after commit. Otherwise push only when standing instructions authorize it.
- `--close <issue_numbers>`: append one `Closes #N` trailer per positive decimal issue number. Accept comma- or
space-separated input.
- `--finding <finding_ids>`: append one `Finding-ID: <id>` trailer per ledger finding this commit fixes. Accept comma-
or space-separated input. Also infer a finding from context when this session's commit fixes a specific ledger
finding. Never include or resolve findings the commit does not actually fix.
- In Conventional Prefix Format, a positional type keyword overrides the inferred type. In Natural Language Format, a
positional verb or category keyword overrides the inferred verb. Quoted positional text overrides the inferred
description or subject.
If the requested operation is only to push a clean branch that is already ahead, skip preparation and run
`ai-commit push`.
## 2. Prepare Once
Run one preparation command:
```bash
ai-commit prepare [--all | --staged] [--natural | --conventional] --diff full \
[--exclude-baseline '<path>=<oid>']... [-- <session-modified-paths>...]
```
- Read the full preparation output. Never pipe it through `tail`, `head`, `awk`, `grep`, or similar. It carries both the
printed transaction ID and the diff step 3 must analyze, and a truncating pipe discards the evidence along with the
ID.
- Use `--diff summary` instead only when the full diff is too large to read in one pass (for example, a repository-wide
migration across hundreds of files) and this session already reviewed the content. In that case, compose the message
from the name-status, shortstat, and that review.
- Before default-mode preparation, run the repository's formatter on this session's edited paths only, so a formatting
pre-commit hook cannot modify the content after it is pinned.
- Build the default-mode path list from individual repository-relative files with changes attributable to this session.
Expand directory paths to those file paths, including new and deleted files. Never build the list by parsing
`git status` or `git status --porcelain` output, which can include another agent's untracked or modified files.
Default mode requires every path edited in this session. For a rename, include both old and new file paths, including
case-only file or directory renames.
- Before default-mode preparation, run `ai-coord touched` when available and reconcile its output against the session
path list. For that cross-check, add missed session-edited paths. Ignore paths this session did not semantically
change. Touched paths are best-effort evidence, not authority. When the command is unavailable or the session is
unrecognized, skip this cross-check silently.
- `--all` accepts no explicit paths and captures all tracked, untracked, modified, deleted, and staged changes.
- `--staged` accepts neither explicit paths nor baseline exclusions and captures the shared index exactly.
- `ai-commit prepare` automatically applies this session's ai-coord stale-dirt baselines. Auto-applied exclusions appear
in the preparation evidence and must be disclosed unchanged. Explicit `--exclude-baseline` remains available for
overrides, and `--no-auto-baseline` disables discovery for deterministic automation. Never revert unrelated changes.
If coordination re-entry records this session's completed edits as a baseline, compare its blob IDs with retained
session or preparation evidence. Use `--no-auto-baseline` only when every selected file's entire delta is attributable
to the authorized task. Preserve exclusions for mixed ownership or uncertain attribution.
Preparation pins the exact tree and delta under the printed transaction ID without changing the shared index. Keep that
ID. The later commit reuses the transaction instead of recomputing intended content from the mutable worktree or shared
index. It applies that immutable delta to the locked current branch and fails safely if intervening branch movement
conflicts. If preparation fails before issuing a transaction ID, correct the evidenced argument, attribution, or input
problem and retry preparation within the authorized scope.
## 3. Analyze and Compose
Analyze the single prepared full diff. Do not replace a valid preparation merely to get different evidence. Oversized
per-file sections arrive cut with a `DIFF_TRUNCATED` disclosure. Their name-status and shortstat evidence still governs
the message.
- Use the printed message format and message-format rules. `ai-commit` is the source of those rules. Do not load a
separate Conventional or Natural reference.
- Apply positional overrides, detect breaking changes, infer scope or context from the code, and include a body only
when it adds material rationale.
- Add `Closes #N` trailers from `--close` and from transcript issue references only when this commit actually resolves
them. De-duplicate issue numbers.
- Add one `Finding-ID: <id>` trailer per finding supplied by `--finding` or inferred from context that this commit
actually fixes. De-duplicate finding IDs.
- Append the exact `Agent-Session:` line from the preparation trailer section when present. `ai-commit` has already
validated it. Do not synthesize or repair a missing or malformed trailer.
Compose one subject paragraph, an optional body paragraph, and one final trailer paragraph containing all `Closes`,
`Finding-ID`, and `Agent-Session` lines.
`ai-commit` receives every `-m` value verbatim and rejects a literal `\\n`. Write real line breaks inside the quoted
argument, as in the step 4 example.
## 4. Commit the Transaction
Run:
```bash
ai-commit commit <transaction-id> -m '<subject>' [-m '<body>'] [-m '<trailers>'] [--push]
```
For example, a two-item body is one `-m` argument containing a physical newline:
```bash
ai-commit commit <transaction-id> -m '<subject>' -m '- first material change
- second material change' [-m '<trailers>'] [--push]
```
Append `--push` when explicitly requested or authorized by standing instructions. The same command handles default,
`--all`, and `--staged` transactions. Never stage or commit them with direct Git commands.
Transactions are idempotent. After an interruption, lock race, or retryable exit, retry the same transaction ID and
message arguments. For those retryable failures, do not prepare a replacement from newer mutable state. A replay
recovers or returns the retained receipt without creating a duplicate commit. Never delete an index lock.
For a deterministic content failure proven to precede commit creation, correct the authorized work and supersede the
uncommitted preparation using the recovery reference. This includes `snapshot-check hook modified prepared content`. An
immutable retry cannot repair content pinned in a failed snapshot. Existing task authority covers this recovery.
Read [references/failure-recovery.md](references/failure-recovery.md) before superseding a failed preparation or adding
`--no-verify` or `--no-gpg-sign`. Bypass flags are explicit per-attempt recovery options, not first-attempt defaults.
After `COMMITTED <transaction-id> <commit-oid>`, resolve every included finding with
`ai-coord finding resolve '<id>' --as fixed --commit '<commit-oid>'`. The OID is a 12-character abbreviation. Pass it
as-is.
## 5. Completion and Receipt
Keep the receipt compact and forward its outcome lines without decoration:
- `COMMITTED <transaction-id> <commit-oid>` proves commit creation or idempotent recovery. Without push authorization,
it is completion.
- `HOOK_ADDED <path>` identifies content introduced by a hook outside the prepared path set. Disclose every such line.
- `PUSHED <branch>` or `PUSHED_NEW <branch>` proves propagation and completes push-authorized or push-only work.
- `PUSHED <transaction-id> <commit-oid>` is the retained proof returned when an already-pushed transaction is replayed.
- `INTEGRATED <transaction-id> <head-oid>` discloses that the branch no longer contains the transaction's original
commit, but HEAD holds its content, for example after a rebase or an identical upstream commit. The `PUSHED` line that
follows still completes the work. Cite the head OID as the pushed evidence, not the `COMMITTED` OID.
- `SUPERSEDED <transaction-id> <commit-oid>` is safe noncompletion: the branch contains neither the commit nor its
content, and nothing was pushed. Inspect the branch. If the change is still needed, discard the transaction and
prepare it again.
- `BEHIND <branch> <count>` is safe noncompletion, never completion: `ai-commit` fetched and refused to integrate or
push. A preceding `COMMITTED` still proves the local commit.
Run `git fetch`, then verify the branch is still behind its upstream, the working tree and index are clean, and no
other Git operation (rebase, merge, cherry-pick, revert, bisect) is in progress. If all hold, run
`git pull --rebase --no-autostash` and replay the same transaction command (or rerun `ai-commit push` for push-only
work). On rebase conflicts, run `git rebase --abort` for only that rebase and ask the user before resolving. If the
tree is dirty or another Git operation is in progress, stop and report. Never autostash.
Do not report unrelated tree state, ahead/behind counts not emitted by the command, staging narration, or successful
hook activity. Add only a required one-line bypass disclosure from the recovery reference.
Ver no GitHub