Conventional Commits & Branch Naming

Follow Conventional Commits v1.0.0 for both branch names and commit messages — consistent naming lets tools auto-generate changelogs, enforce SemVer bumps, and filter history by concern.

Branch Naming

Format: <type>/[issue-]<description> — lowercase, hyphens only, no special chars except /.

feat/user-authentication
feat/42-user-authentication
fix/login-race-condition
fix/87-login-race-condition
docs/api-reference-update
refactor/payment-module

Prefix with the issue number when one exists — GitHub and GitLab auto-link it and it makes git log immediately traceable to the tracker. Keep the description under 50 characters — most git UIs truncate branch names in lists around that length. Match the type to the work you're doing — this is the contract readers use to understand the branch purpose at a glance.

NEVER include worktree in a branch name — git worktrees are a local checkout mechanism, not a branch concept; the name would leak implementation details into the remote and confuse other contributors.

Commit Message Format

<type>[optional scope]: <description>
[optional body]
[optional footer(s)]

Types:

Type	SemVer	When
`feat`	MINOR	New feature
`fix`	PATCH	Bug fix
`docs`	—	Docs only
`style`	—	Formatting, no logic change
`refactor`	—	Restructure, no feature/fix
`perf`	—	Performance improvement
`test`	—	Add/fix tests
`build`	—	Build system, deps
`ci`	—	CI config
`chore`	—	Anything else (not src/test)
`revert`	—	Reverts a previous commit

Rules:

Subject line ≤ 72 characters — git log and GitHub/GitLab UIs silently truncate longer subjects
Imperative mood: "add" not "added" — reads as an instruction, not a history log
No capital letter, no trailing period — enforces uniform parsing by changelog tools
Body separated by blank line — parsers split header/body at the first blank line
Breaking changes: use ! after type/scope, or add BREAKING CHANGE: footer (triggers MAJOR bump) — body-only descriptions are invisible to changelog tools
revert commits SHOULD include This reverts commit <hash>. in the body — git revert generates this automatically; don't strip it
NEVER add a Claude signature, AI agent attribution, or Co-authored-by trailer for Claude or any other AI agent to commits

Examples:

feat(auth): add JWT token refresh

fix: prevent race condition on concurrent requests

Introduce request ID and reference to latest request.
Dismiss responses from stale requests.

refactor!: drop support for Go 1.18

BREAKING CHANGE: Go 1.18 no longer supported; uses stdlib APIs from 1.21+

Closing Issues via Commit Messages

Both GitHub and GitLab detect keywords in commit messages and automatically close the referenced issue when the commit lands on the default branch. Place the reference in the footer (preferred — keeps the subject line clean).

Keywords: close, closes, closed, fix, fixes, fixed, resolve, resolves, resolved — case-insensitive.

GitHub:

fix(auth): prevent token expiry race condition

Closes #42
Closes owner/repo#99

Triggers when merged into the default branch (usually main)
Cross-repo: Closes owner/repo#42
Close multiple: Closes #42, closes #43
Works in PR descriptions too

GitLab:

feat: add dark mode support

Resolves #101
Closes group/project#42

Triggers when merged into the default branch (configurable per project)
Cross-project: Closes group/project#42
Close multiple: Closes #101, closes #102
Works in MR descriptions too

Tip: Pair with the commit type — fix: closing a bug issue, feat: closing a feature request — keeps the changelog semantically coherent.

Common Mistakes

Mistake	Fix
`feat: Added login page`	`feat: add login page` — imperative, no capital
`fix: fix bug.`	`fix: fix bug` — no trailing period
Subject over 72 chars	Shorten; move detail to body
Breaking change only in body	Add `!` or `BREAKING CHANGE:` footer — tools won't detect body-only
`feat(adding-auth): ...`	`feat(auth): ...` — scope is a noun, not a verb
Closes #42 in subject line	Move to footer — keeps subject clean and parseable

Best Practices