Conventional Commits: Complete Guide for Software Teams

Conventional Commits is not a style fad. It is a communication interface between humans, CI/CD and tooling.

If your git history looks like a chaotic conversation, you lose traceability, automation, and context.

Minimum structure

<type>(optional-scope): <description>

Most useful types of equipment:

• feat: new functionality
• fix: correction
• refactor: internal improvement without functional change
• docs: documentation
• test: tests
• chore: maintenance

Good examples

• feat(auth): add refresh token rotation for mobile sessions
• fix(payments): handle timeout retries with exponential backoff
• docs(ci): document crosspost workflow and fallback behavior

Common errors

• Generic messages (update, changes, fix stuff)
• Mix 4 exchange rates in a single commit
• Non-existent or arbitrary scope

Frictionless adoption

1. Define minimum type convention.
2. Add validation in hooks/CI.
3. Start with new commits (without rewriting old history).
4. Measure impact on releases and debugging.

Integration with your stack

With a stable convention you can:

• generate automatic changelog,
• control semantic versioning,
• audit changes by domain area.

In this blog there are already related cases to delve into:

• /blog/11-how-to-setup-multiple-git-accounts-with-ssh/
• /blog/13-syncing-and-signing-commits-for-different-remotes-and-different-git-accounts-using-hooks-from-a-single-local-repository/
• Git Hub: /blog/category/git/

Closing

A good commit message reduces future doubts. You don’t write for the present, you write for your team in 3 months.