The Importance of Good Commit Messages

Version control systems like Git preserve not just code changes but also the story of a project's evolution. Commit messages are the narrative that explains this story, yet they're often treated as an afterthought. Good commit messages are a gift to your future self and your teammates, turning your repository's history from a cryptic log into valuable documentation.

A well-crafted commit message starts with a concise subject line, typically 50 characters or less, written in the imperative mood: "Add user authentication" rather than "Added user authentication" or "Adds user authentication." This style matches Git's own convention for automatic messages like "Merge branch 'feature'". The subject line should complete the sentence "If applied, this commit will..."

Following a blank line, the body provides context that code alone cannot convey. Explain why the change was necessary, what problem it solves, and any important decisions or trade-offs made. Include references to issue numbers, links to discussions, or warnings about breaking changes. This information is invaluable when debugging, reviewing pull requests, or understanding why certain architectural decisions were made.

Bad commit messages like "fix bug," "update code," or "WIP" waste the opportunity to document your work. They force future developers (including yourself) to reverse-engineer the intent from the code diff alone. In contrast, good messages like "Refactor authentication to use JWT tokens

The session-based auth was causing scaling issues with our new microservices architecture. JWT tokens allow stateless authentication across services. This is a breaking change - clients need to update their auth headers." provide immediate understanding and context. Investing a minute in writing a good commit message saves hours of confusion later.