Making Commits

A commit is a snapshot of your project at a specific point in time. Each commit records what changed and who made the change.

Basic Commit

git commit -m "Your commit message here"

Multi-line Commit Messages

git commit -m "Add user authentication" -m "Implements login, registration, and password reset functionality using JWT tokens."

Stage + Commit Shortcut

# Stage all MODIFIED files and commit (won't work for new untracked files)
git commit -am "Fix navigation bug"

Viewing Commit History

# Full log
git log

# Compact one-line log
git log --oneline

# Log with graph
git log --oneline --graph

# Last 5 commits
git log -5

Writing Good Commit Messages

• Do: Start with a verb — "Add", "Fix", "Update", "Remove", "Refactor"
• Do: Keep it under 50 characters for the title
• Do: Be specific — "Fix login button not responding on mobile"
• Don't: "Fixed stuff" or "Changes" or "WIP"
• Don't: List every file changed — Git already tracks that

Good vs Bad Commit Messages

# BAD
git commit -m "updates"
git commit -m "fixed bug"
git commit -m "asdfgh"

# GOOD
git commit -m "Add responsive navbar for mobile devices"
git commit -m "Fix date formatting bug in user profile"
git commit -m "Remove deprecated API endpoints"

Viewing a Specific Commit

git show abc1234   # Shows details of a specific commit