Commit Message Guidelines

March 9, 2026 · View on GitHub

This document provides instructions for generating standardized commit messages.

Format Requirements

  • Use Conventional Commit Messages
  • All changes MUST be in imperative mood

Types

Types MUST be one of the following:

  • feat - A new feature
  • fix - A bug fix
  • refactor - A code change that neither fixes a bug nor adds a feature
  • perf - A code change that improves performance
  • style - Changes that do not affect the meaning of the code
  • test - Adding missing tests or correcting existing tests
  • docs - Documentation only changes (excluding: *.instructions.md, *.prompt.md, *.agent.md, as these are prompts and instructions likely meaning the changes are feat, chore, etc)
  • build - Changes that affect the build system or external dependencies
  • ops - Changes to operational components
  • chore - Other changes that don't modify src or test files
  • security - CVE fixes and vulnerability remediations

Scopes

Scopes MUST be one of the following:

  • (agents) - Custom agent definitions in .github/agents/
  • (prompts) - Prompt templates in .github/prompts/
  • (instructions) - Coding guidelines in .github/instructions/
  • (skills) - Skill packages in .github/skills/
  • (templates) - Issue and PR templates in .github/ISSUE_TEMPLATE/
  • (infrastructure) - Changes in deploy and infrastructure directories
  • (pipeline) - Changes in data pipeline directories
  • (data) - Changes in data management directories
  • (sdg) - Changes in synthetic data generation directories
  • (training) - Changes in training directories
  • (evaluation) - Changes in evaluation directories
  • (deployment) - Changes in fleet deployment directories
  • (intelligence) - Changes in fleet intelligence directories
  • (scripts) - Changes in automation scripts directories
  • (docs) - Changes in documentation directories
  • (adrs) - Changes in Architecture Decision Records directories
  • (settings) - Changes in configuration files (.vscode/, linter configs)
  • (build) - Changes in build system and dependencies including github workflows

Description

  • Description MUST be short and LESS THAN 100 bytes
  • Examples:
feat: update logic with new feature
chore: cleaned up and moved code from A to B
feat(training): add parameters to take name instead of id

Body (Optional)

For larger changes only:

  • Body starts with a blank line
  • Contains a summarized bulleted list (0-5 items AT MOST)
  • MUST be LESS THAN 300 bytes
  • Footer MUST start with a blank line
  • Must include an emoji that represents the change
  • Must end with - Generated by Copilot

Example Complete Commit Message - Large

feat(infrastructure): add new authentication flow

- add commit message, markdown, C# along with C# test instructions
- introduce task planner and researcher, prompt builder, and adr creation agents
- configure markdownlint and VS Code workspace settings
- add ADO work items prompts for getting and preparing my work items
- add .gitignore and cleanup README newlines

🔒 - Generated by Copilot

Example Complete Commit Message - Medium to Small

feat(prompts): update summarize-my-work-items.prompt.md to clarify json output, correct get-my-work-items.prompt.md to fallback to wit_my_work_items

🔒 - Generated by Copilot