Skills

Skill 84 of 200

Commit Message Storyteller

Analyzes git diffs or staged changes and generates narrative commit messages that explain WHY a change was made, not just what changed — following Conventional Commits format.

2 minutes · 523 words · 11 sections

Install

$ npx skills add github/awesome-copilot --skill commit-message-storyteller

$ npx skills add github/awesome-copilot

» /plugin marketplace add github/awesome-copilot

The first command installs just this skill, by the name in its SKILL.md; the second installs the whole repository.

Transforms raw git diffs and change descriptions into clear, story-driven commit messages that follow the Conventional Commits (opens in a new tab) specification. Instead of “update file.js”, you get messages that communicate intent, context, and impact.

When to Use This Skill

User says “write a commit message”
User pastes a git diff or describes code changes
User says “what should I commit this as?” or “summarize my diff”
User wants better commit history for their team or open-source project
User is preparing a pull request and wants meaningful commit messages

Prerequisites

Have at least one of the following ready:

Output from git diff or git diff --staged
A description of what you changed and why
A list of modified files

How It Works

Step 1: Gather the Change Context

Ask the user (or infer from the diff) for:

What changed — files, functions, logic affected
Why it changed — bug fix, new feature, refactor, performance, etc.
Who/what triggered it — issue number, user request, tech debt, etc.

If the user provides a raw git diff, extract this context automatically from the diff.

Step 2: Identify the Commit Type

Map the change to a Conventional Commits type using this guide:

Type	Use When
`feat`	A new feature or capability is added
`fix`	A bug or incorrect behavior is corrected
`refactor`	Code restructured without changing behavior
`perf`	A change that improves performance
`docs`	Documentation only changes
`style`	Formatting, whitespace, missing semicolons (no logic change)
`test`	Adding or updating tests
`build`	Build system or dependency changes
`chore`	Other maintenance that does not change source or tests
`ci`	CI/CD pipeline changes
`revert`	Reverting a previous commit

See references/conventional-commits-guide.md for detailed examples.

Step 3: Write the Commit Message

Follow this structure:

<type>(<optional scope>): <short imperative summary>

<body — the story: why this change was made, what problem it solves>

<footer — issue refs, breaking change notices>

Rules for Each Part

Subject line (first line):

Use imperative mood: “add”, “fix”, “remove” — not “added” or “fixes”
Max 72 characters
No period at the end
Lowercase after the colon

Body (the story):

Explain the why, not the what (the diff already shows the what)
Describe the problem that existed before this change
Mention any alternatives considered if relevant
Keep lines under 100 characters
Separate from subject with a blank line

Footer:

Reference issues: Closes #123, Fixes #456, Refs #789
Mark breaking changes: BREAKING CHANGE: <description>

Step 4: Generate Output

Produce the commit message in a copyable code block, followed by a one-line plain-English explanation of the story you told.

Example output:

fix(auth): prevent token refresh loop on expired sessions

When a user's session expired mid-request, the auth middleware was
triggering a token refresh, which itself failed validation and triggered
another refresh — causing an infinite retry loop that crashed the app.

This adds a recursion guard flag that aborts the refresh cycle if a
refresh is already in progress, returning a clean 401 instead.

Closes #312

Story told: A silent infinite loop on session expiry was crashing the app; this stops the cycle early and returns a clean error.

Multiple Commits from One Diff

If the diff contains logically separate changes, split them into multiple commit messages and tell the user. Use this heuristic:

Different files with unrelated purposes → likely separate commits
Same file but distinct concerns (e.g., bug fix + refactor) → suggest splitting
Everything tightly coupled → one commit is fine

Edge Cases

Situation	How to Handle
User provides no context beyond a diff	Infer type and scope from file names and changed symbols
Changes span many files with no clear theme	Ask: “Is this one logical change, or multiple?”
Breaking change detected	Add `BREAKING CHANGE:` footer automatically
User says “keep it short”	Omit body, just write a strong subject line
No issue number available	Omit the footer entirely

Quick Reference

# Get your staged diff to paste into Copilot
git diff --staged

# Or get the last uncommitted working tree changes
git diff

See references/conventional-commits-guide.md for type examples and scope guidelines.

About this skill

Trigger

Analyzes git diffs or staged changes and generates narrative commit messages that explain WHY a change was made, not just what changed — following Conventional Commits format. Use when asked to "write a commit message", "describe my changes", "what should I commit this as", or "summarize my diff". Works with git diff output, staged files, or plain descriptions of changes. Does not run git commit; to stage files and make the commit, use the git-commit skill.

The verbatim description from this skill’s front matter — the string an agent matches on to decide whether to load it.

Colophon for this issue

Colophon

How this issue was made

Source

github.com/github/awesome-copilot, branch main, last pushed 9 November 2026.

Licence

MIT — the text of every skill is reproduced unmodified, frontmatter included, under the upstream licence.

Discovery

200 skills found by walking the repository tree for SKILL.md, not by matching a directory convention. 2 distinct layouts observed: .github/skills/*/SKILL.md, skills/*/SKILL.md.

Authorship

3 of 200 skills are installed into the repository rather than published from it. They are shelved in the closing “Credited skills” part and remain the work of their own authors. A skill counts as credited when its only copy lives under one agent’s dot directory; visible directories, per-agent mirror sets, and skills installable from this repository on skills.sh all count as published.

Issue colours

Resolved from a curated brand profile — hue 295°, chroma 0.190. Two accent tones are generated per issue and each is proven against its own ground before it ships: a single accent that passes AA on both light and dark paper is arithmetically impossible.

Heading repairs

1 repair applied to this skill so the document has one h1 and no skipped levels:

Removed “Commit Message Storyteller”, a leading h1 that duplicated the skill title.

Spec compliance

Every skill satisfies the Agent Skills specification’s frontmatter rules.

Images

Images inside a skill come from the upstream repository. Where the author gave no alternative text we mark the image decorative rather than inventing a description — a plausible caption we made up is worse than none for the reader who depends on it.

Marketplace

A plugin manifest is published at .github/plugin/marketplace.json by GitHub, declaring 211 plugins. It is read for editorial metadata only — never as the skill index, which is always the repository tree.

Signal

Install counts come from skills.sh. They measure downloads, not quality, and an unranked repository is not an unread one.

Agent surfaces

The whole issue is available as one markdown document at /github/awesome-copilot.md, and each skill at its own .md URL.

Publication

Set by Skills Docs from the source repository. Body text is Literata at the reader’s chosen size and measure; code is Geist Mono. Nothing on this page was written by us except this paragraph.

When to Use This Skill

User says “write a commit message”
User pastes a git diff or describes code changes
User says “what should I commit this as?” or “summarize my diff”
User wants better commit history for their team or open-source project
User is preparing a pull request and wants meaningful commit messages

Prerequisites

Have at least one of the following ready:

Output from git diff or git diff --staged
A description of what you changed and why
A list of modified files

How It Works

Step 1: Gather the Change Context

Ask the user (or infer from the diff) for:

What changed — files, functions, logic affected
Why it changed — bug fix, new feature, refactor, performance, etc.
Who/what triggered it — issue number, user request, tech debt, etc.

If the user provides a raw git diff, extract this context automatically from the diff.

Step 2: Identify the Commit Type

Map the change to a Conventional Commits type using this guide:

Type	Use When
`feat`	A new feature or capability is added
`fix`	A bug or incorrect behavior is corrected
`refactor`	Code restructured without changing behavior
`perf`	A change that improves performance
`docs`	Documentation only changes
`style`	Formatting, whitespace, missing semicolons (no logic change)
`test`	Adding or updating tests
`build`	Build system or dependency changes
`chore`	Other maintenance that does not change source or tests
`ci`	CI/CD pipeline changes
`revert`	Reverting a previous commit

See references/conventional-commits-guide.md for detailed examples.

Step 3: Write the Commit Message

Follow this structure:

<type>(<optional scope>): <short imperative summary>

<body — the story: why this change was made, what problem it solves>

<footer — issue refs, breaking change notices>

Rules for Each Part

Subject line (first line):

Use imperative mood: “add”, “fix”, “remove” — not “added” or “fixes”
Max 72 characters
No period at the end
Lowercase after the colon

Body (the story):

Explain the why, not the what (the diff already shows the what)
Describe the problem that existed before this change
Mention any alternatives considered if relevant
Keep lines under 100 characters
Separate from subject with a blank line

Footer:

Reference issues: Closes #123, Fixes #456, Refs #789
Mark breaking changes: BREAKING CHANGE: <description>

Step 4: Generate Output

Produce the commit message in a copyable code block, followed by a one-line plain-English explanation of the story you told.

Example output:

fix(auth): prevent token refresh loop on expired sessions

When a user's session expired mid-request, the auth middleware was
triggering a token refresh, which itself failed validation and triggered
another refresh — causing an infinite retry loop that crashed the app.

This adds a recursion guard flag that aborts the refresh cycle if a
refresh is already in progress, returning a clean 401 instead.

Closes #312

Story told: A silent infinite loop on session expiry was crashing the app; this stops the cycle early and returns a clean error.

Multiple Commits from One Diff

If the diff contains logically separate changes, split them into multiple commit messages and tell the user. Use this heuristic:

Different files with unrelated purposes → likely separate commits
Same file but distinct concerns (e.g., bug fix + refactor) → suggest splitting
Everything tightly coupled → one commit is fine

Edge Cases

Situation	How to Handle
User provides no context beyond a diff	Infer type and scope from file names and changed symbols
Changes span many files with no clear theme	Ask: “Is this one logical change, or multiple?”
Breaking change detected	Add `BREAKING CHANGE:` footer automatically
User says “keep it short”	Omit body, just write a strong subject line
No issue number available	Omit the footer entirely

Quick Reference

# Get your staged diff to paste into Copilot
git diff --staged

# Or get the last uncommitted working tree changes
git diff

See references/conventional-commits-guide.md for type examples and scope guidelines.

Commit Message Storyteller

When to Use This Skill

Prerequisites

How It Works

Step 1: Gather the Change Context

Step 2: Identify the Commit Type

Step 3: Write the Commit Message

Rules for Each Part

Step 4: Generate Output

Multiple Commits from One Diff

Edge Cases

Quick Reference

About this skill

Trigger

Colophon

Commit Message Storyteller

When to Use This Skill

Prerequisites

How It Works

Step 1: Gather the Change Context

Step 2: Identify the Commit Type

Step 3: Write the Commit Message

Rules for Each Part

Step 4: Generate Output

Multiple Commits from One Diff

Edge Cases

Quick Reference

Appendix 84.1

ReferencesMarkdown · 1 file

About this skill

Trigger

Colophon

Appendix 84.1

ReferencesMarkdown · 1 file