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commit-work

★ 2,144

by softaworks · part of softaworks/agent-toolkit

Create high-quality git commits: review/stage intended changes, split into logical commits, and write clear commit messages (including Conventional Commits). Use when the user asks to commit, craft a commit message, stage changes, or split work into multiple commits.

🧩 One of 7 skills in the softaworks/agent-toolkit package — works on its own, and pairs well with its siblings.

This is the playbook your agent receives when the skill activates — you don't need to read it to use the skill, but it's here to audit before installing.

Commit work

Goal

Make commits that are easy to review and safe to ship:

  • only intended changes are included
  • commits are logically scoped (split when needed)
  • commit messages describe what changed and why

Inputs to ask for (if missing)

  • Single commit or multiple commits? (If unsure: default to multiple small commits when there are unrelated changes.)
  • Commit style: Conventional Commits are required.
  • Any rules: max subject length, required scopes.

Workflow (checklist)

  1. Inspect the working tree before staging
    • git status
    • git diff (unstaged)
    • If many changes: git diff --stat
  2. Decide commit boundaries (split if needed)
    • Split by: feature vs refactor, backend vs frontend, formatting vs logic, tests vs prod code, dependency bumps vs behavior changes.
    • If changes are mixed in one file, plan to use patch staging.
  3. Stage only what belongs in the next commit
    • Prefer patch staging for mixed changes: git add -p
    • To unstage a hunk/file: git restore --staged -p or git restore --staged <path>
  4. Review what will actually be committed
    • git diff --cached
    • Sanity checks:
      • no secrets or tokens
      • no accidental debug logging
      • no unrelated formatting churn
  5. Describe the staged change in 1-2 sentences (before writing the message)
    • "What changed?" + "Why?"
    • If you cannot describe it cleanly, the commit is probably too big or mixed; go back to step 2.
  6. Write the commit message
    • Use Conventional Commits (required):
      • type(scope): short summary
      • blank line
      • body (what/why, not implementation diary)
      • footer (BREAKING CHANGE) if needed
    • Prefer an editor for multi-line messages: git commit -v
    • Use references/commit-message-template.md if helpful.
  7. Run the smallest relevant verification
    • Run the repo's fastest meaningful check (unit tests, lint, or build) before moving on.
  8. Repeat for the next commit until the working tree is clean

Deliverable

Provide:

  • the final commit message(s)
  • a short summary per commit (what/why)
  • the commands used to stage/review (at minimum: git diff --cached, plus any tests run)