The idea to use semantic symbols in Git commit messages is not exactly new. A while ago, I used the following three basic ASCII symbols at the beginning of my commit messages and my changelog entries:
| Symbol | Meaning/Commit type |
|---|---|
| [+] | Add new feature |
| [*] | Improvement |
| [#] | Bugfix |
Example:
[#] Finally fixed memory leak(imagine the hash is a plaster)
Those three simple symbols did the job fairly good for most use cases and were easy to remember. However, they are neither self-explaining nor eye-catching - in fact, some people might even wonder what they mean and ignore them (which defeats the purpose of semantic symbols).
While checking out some popular GitHub repositories, I saw that some people used emojis in their commit messages... And hey, it makes totally sense!
Emojis are daily used in messengers and understood by a broad spectrum of people - so why not use them to type your commits?
As a result, I searched for an open standard/guide for emoji-based commit messages and found gitmoji and I really like the concept with only one simple exception: There are too many emojis. People will fail to recognize, memorize and use them semantically correct.
"Less is more" - so let's concentrate on the most basic ones and...
| Emoji | Code | Meaning/Type |
|---|---|---|
| ✨ | :sparkles: |
Add new feature |
| ⚡ | :zap: |
Improve feature |
| 🐛 | :bug: |
Fix bug |
| 🚧 | :construction: |
Work in progress |
| ✅ | :white_check_mark: |
Add test |
| 📝 | :memo: |
Edit documentation |
I find this extremely basic subset of gitmoji pretty handy - because it is very generic, it covers many commit scenarios.
What do you think? Do you have a proposal? Just let me know! ⤵
Amazing! thank you!