No Commit

Overview

A CLI tool that reads your staged git changes, sends them to Google Gemini, and returns a clean conventional commit message. You review it, tweak it if needed, commit, and move on. Achieved 5000+ npm downloads from the developer community.

About

I got tired of typing "fix stuff" as a commit message, so I built a tool that does it properly. No Commit is an npm package that reads your staged changes, sends them to Google Gemini, and generates a clean conventional commit message.

Install globally using npm:

npm install -g nocommit

Features

AI That Understands Your Changes

• Gemini reads your actual code diffs, not just file names
• Follows conventional commit format out of the box
• Generates up to 5 suggestions to choose from

Stays Out of Your Way

• One command: nocommit
• Use -a to auto-stage tracked files, -y to skip the confirmation prompt
• Works with your existing git setup, no extra configuration

Smart API Usage

• Looks at up to 5 files and 30 changed lines per file
• Keeps the total diff under 4000 characters to control token usage
• Ignores package-lock.json, node_modules, build outputs, and other noise

Clean Terminal Experience

• After generating, you get a menu: Commit, Edit, Regenerate, or Cancel
• Edit the message inline before committing
• Configurable model, message length, timeout, and number of suggestions

How It Works

1. Diff — Grabs staged changes using git diff --staged
2. Extract — Pulls important added/removed lines and trims noise
3. Generate — Sends trimmed diff to Gemini and receives suggestions
4. Choose — Pick one, edit if needed, commit. Or regenerate. Or cancel.

What I Learned

• Prompt design matters
  Getting consistent, high-quality commit messages required multiple iterations. Small prompt adjustments significantly affected output quality.

• Git diff parsing is messy
  Extracting meaningful changes while staying within token limits was the most challenging part.

• Publishing an npm package end-to-end
  Versioning, packaging, and setting up a Homebrew tap required more attention than expected.

• CLI UX needs careful thinking
  Spinner timing, menu flow, edge cases (no staged files, API timeouts, empty diffs) — these details shape the overall experience.

• Dogfooding is powerful
  Using nocommit during its own development exposed edge cases and improved reliability.