I used to be that developer who commits with messages like "fixed bug" or "updated stuff" – and I hated myself for it. Every pull request required a frantic rewrite of commit history. So I decided to automate the process with AI. My goal: generate meaningful, conventional commit messages directly from my diff, without (too much) embarrassment.
Spoiler: it wasn't as simple as slapping a prompt in front of GPT. Here's the rollercoaster I went through, the dead ends, and the surprisingly elegant solution I eventually landed on.
The Real Problem (My Problem)
I was working on a medium-sized project with a dozen contributors. We enforced Conventional Commits (feat:, fix:, etc.), but I kept getting lazy. My brain simply didn't want to switch from code mode to prose mode after every diff. I needed a tool that could:
Read the staged diff (additions/removals)
