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Commit

Byte's commit system uses AI to generate meaningful commit messages by analyzing your staged changes. It automates the entire commit workflow - staging files, running linters, generating commit messages, and handling git operations.

Commit process showing staging, linting, and message generation

Quick Start

Create an commit:

> /commit

Byte will:

  1. Stage all changed files (with confirmation)
  2. Run configured linters on changed files
  3. Analyze the git diff with AI
  4. Generate a descriptive commit message
  5. Create the commit with the generated message

If the commit fails (for example, when pre-commit hooks modify files), Byte will:

  • Display the error message
  • Prompt you to stage the changes and try again
  • Re-stage all changes if you confirm
  • Retry the commit with the same message

This is common with pre-commit hooks that automatically format or modify files - the hooks run, change the files, and cause the commit to fail because the staging area no longer matches the working directory.

Configuration

Linting Integration

Control linting behavior via .byte/config.yaml:

lint:
  enable: true # Disable to skip linting during commits
  commands:
    - command: "ruff format"
      extensions: [".py"]

See Linting concept for detailed configuration.

Commit Message Format

The AI generates messages following conventional commit conventions:

Structure

<type>(<scope>): <subject>

<body>

<footer>

Types

Common commit types the AI uses:

  • feat - New feature
  • fix - Bug fix
  • docs - Documentation changes
  • style - Code style changes (formatting, whitespace)
  • refactor - Code restructuring without behavior change
  • perf - Performance improvements
  • test - Test additions or modifications
  • chore - Build process, tooling, dependencies

Examples

Simple feature:

feat: add password reset functionality

Bug fix with scope:

fix(auth): prevent token expiration race condition

Breaking change:

feat!: redesign authentication API

BREAKING CHANGE: AuthService.login() now returns a Promise
instead of synchronous result. Update all callers to use await.