conventional-commit-types
List of conventional commit types.
A shared reference list that defines standard prefixes like 'feat' and 'fix' for Git commit messages, stored as a JSON file so other tools can read and enforce consistent commit formatting across teams.
conventional-commit-types is a small reference list that helps developers write better Git commit messages. Instead of everyone inventing their own style for describing changes, this project provides a shared vocabulary so commit messages follow a predictable format.
When you write a commit message, you typically start with a short prefix that describes the kind of change. This project defines what those prefixes are and what each one means. For example, a commit might start with "feat" to indicate a new feature, "fix" for a bug fix, or "docs" for documentation changes. The list itself is stored as a simple JSON file, so other tools can read it programmatically.
The main audience is developers who want to enforce consistent commit messages across a team. It's commonly used alongside tools like commitizen, which walks you through writing a commit message interactively, or validation scripts that check whether your commit message follows the rules before it's accepted. If you've ever seen a project where every commit message looks uniform and structured, a shared list like this is often the reason.
The project itself is essentially a single data file. The conventions it codifies originally came from the Angular project's contributing guidelines, which became a widely adopted standard in the open source community. It's a small but meaningful piece of infrastructure that many commit-message tools rely on behind the scenes.
Where it fits
- Enforce consistent commit message formatting across a development team.
- Use with commitizen to interactively guide developers through writing structured commit messages.
- Validate commit messages against a standard list of accepted types before accepting them.