gitlint

Check the last commit message

$ gitlint

$ gitlint --commits [single_refspec_argument]

$ gitlint --extra-path [path/to/directory]

$ gitlint --target [path/to/target_directory]

$ gitlint --msg-filename [path/to/file]

$ gitlint --staged

gitlint [-h|-V] [-v|-vv] [-C PATH] [--config FILE] [--color {auto|never|always}] [--warnings-as-errors] [--fix] [--editor] [--staged] [--commit-msg-file FILE] [--commits REV_RANGE] [PATH]

-h, --help
    Show help message and exit

-V, --version
    Display gitlint version

-v, --verbose
    Verbose output; use -vv for more details

-C PATH
    Run in specific Git repository

--config FILE
    Load configuration from YAML file

--color {auto|never|always}
    Control colored output

--warnings-as-errors
    Treat warnings as errors (exit code 1)

--fix
    Auto-fix body lines exceeding 72 characters

--editor
    Open editor for staged commit message if invalid

--staged
    Lint only the staged commit message

--commit-msg-file FILE
    Lint message from specific file

--commits REV_RANGE
    Lint commits in given revision range

--install-hook
    Install Git hooks in current repo

--uninstall-hook
    Uninstall Git hooks

--init
    Initialize gitlint config and hooks

gitlint is a command-line tool that enforces conventional commit message standards in Git repositories.

It checks commit messages against a set of built-in rules (e.g., body max line length, title max length, no todo) and supports custom rules via configuration.

Run it manually with gitlint, integrate via Git hooks (gitlint --install-hook), or use as a pre-commit hook. It supports linting the last commit, staged changes, specific revisions, or message files.

Features include auto-fixing minor issues, colorized output, verbose modes, and extensibility. Ideal for teams enforcing clean histories, it outputs human-readable diagnostics with rule IDs for quick fixes.

Requires Python and installation via pip install gitlint; not a core Git command. Custom rules need YAML config. Hooks may conflict with other tools.

Install with pip install gitlint or via package managers like Homebrew (brew install gitlint). Add gitlint --install-hook for automatic enforcement.

Edit ~/.gitlint or .gitlint.yml to enable/disable rules, e.g., rules: - T001: level: warning.

Over 20 built-in rules like T001 (title max 50 chars), B003 (body line <72 chars), CA01 (no TODO). List with gitlint --rules.

Created by Joris van der Wel in 2017 as an alternative to commitlint. Actively maintained on GitHub; version 0.20+ added rule customization and hook improvements. Widely used in CI/CD pipelines.

git(1), git-commit(1), git-log(1)