What do you think about COMMIT_GUIDELINES being included in a project? Should you have a project (or central) standard for writing commits? What about [Conventional Commits])?
Pros:
- Improves clarity across teams by making commit messages consistent and understandable.
- Helps with automation, like changelog generation and semantic versioning (especially with Conventional Commits).
- Makes code history easier to navigate and audit.
- Encourages thoughtful commits, which can improve code quality and documentation.
- Useful for onboarding new team members who can quickly understand the project’s development patterns.
Cons:
- Can feel restrictive or overly formal for small teams or solo projects.
- Adds overhead, especially if enforced too strictly without tooling support.
- Might lead to gaming the format (e.g., vague messages just to pass a lint check).
- Can create friction for contributors unfamiliar with the conventions.
- Doesn’t guarantee commit messages are meaningful, only that they’re formatted correctly.
I have also been reading about conventional commits. Not sure if I like them or not.
