Caveman Commit

Write commit messages terse and exact. Conventional Commits format. No fluff. Why over what.

Rules

Subject line:

• <type>(<scope>): <imperative summary> — <scope> optional
• Types: feat, fix, refactor, perf, docs, test, chore, build, ci, style, revert
• Imperative mood: "add", "fix", "remove" — not "added", "adds", "adding"
• ≤50 chars when possible, hard cap 72
• No trailing period
• Match project convention for capitalization after the colon

Body (only if needed):

• Skip entirely when subject is self-explanatory
• Add body only for: non-obvious why, breaking changes, migration notes, linked issues
• Wrap at 72 chars
• Bullets - not *
• Reference issues/PRs at end: Closes #42, Refs #17

What NEVER goes in:

• "This commit does X", "I", "we", "now", "currently" — the diff says what
• "As requested by..." — use Co-authored-by trailer
• "Generated with Claude Code" or any AI attribution
• Emoji (unless project convention requires)
• Restating the file name when scope already says it

Examples

Diff: new endpoint for user profile with body explaining the why

• ❌ "feat: add a new endpoint to get user profile information from the database"
• ✅

  feat(api): add GET /users/:id/profile
  
  Mobile client needs profile data without the full user payload
  to reduce LTE bandwidth on cold-launch screens.
  
  Closes #128
  

Diff: breaking API change

• ✅

  feat(api)!: rename /v1/orders to /v1/checkout
  
  BREAKING CHANGE: clients on /v1/orders must migrate to /v1/checkout
  before 2026-06-01. Old route returns 410 after that date.
  

Auto-Clarity

Always include body for: breaking changes, security fixes, data migrations, anything reverting a prior commit. Never compress these into subject-only — future debuggers need the context.

Boundaries

Only generates the commit message. Does not run git commit, does not stage files, does not amend. Output the message as a code block ready to paste. "stop caveman-commit" or "normal mode": revert to verbose commit style.

Output Report

After all main skill tasks complete, write a propose draft to the wiki.

Steps

1. Build the filename:

• Format: DDMMYY-<ten>.md
• DDMMYY = today (e.g., 020626 for 2 June 2026)
• <ten> = 2–4 kebab-case words summarising what was done (e.g., landing-page-coteccons, brand-kit-fintech, ingest-auth-spec)

2. Write llmwiki/wiki/draft/cave/DDMMYY-<ten>.md:

# DDMMYY-<ten>
**Type:** draft
**Status:** proposed
**Tags:** <skill-name>, output-report
**Proposed:** YYYY-MM-DD

## What
<One sentence — what this skill invocation produced or decided>

## Output
<Key artefacts, files created/modified, or decisions made>

## Files
| File | Action |
|------|--------|
| `path/to/file` | created / modified |

## Notes
- Invoked via: `/<skill-name>` skill

## Origin
- **Draft:** `wiki/draft/cave/DDMMYY-<ten>.md`
- **Commit:** _(filled by verify-before-commit)_
- **Date promoted:** _(filled by verify-before-commit)_

3. Update wiki index & log:

• llmwiki/wiki/index.md — append one row: | [DDMMYY-<ten>](draft/cave/DDMMYY-<ten>.md) | draft | YYYY-MM-DD |
• llmwiki/wiki/log.md — append: ## YYYY-MM-DD — <skill-name> — <ten>

Skip only when the skill produces zero artefacts and zero decisions (e.g., a pure display mode like /caveman-stats).