Improve VS Code Commit Messages with GitHub's git-commit skill

I really love that tiny Generate Commit Message button in the VS Code interface, but I like my commit messages to us a different commit style, using prefixes like "feat:" and "chore:". Let's see if we can wire up the git-commit skill (made by GitHub) to our project, so the AI generates even better message.

This is the original message that AI generates when I press the button.

The beauty of skills is that installing one just make it work. Copilot picks it up in the chat window automatically. Great! Unfortunately, this is not the case for the little Generate Commit Message button (the sparkles icon). You'll need to add some of your own magic to make it use the skill.

Let's Give the Sparkle Button a Skill

First, we'll need to install the skill into our project, because we need to reference it:

npx skills add https://github.com/github/awesome-copilot --skill git-commit --agent universal -y

This installs the SKILL.md markdown file in the .agents directory and create a skills-lock.json file.

Next, we'll need to reference the file in our .vscode/settings.json by adding the following configuration:

{
  "github.copilot.chat.commitMessageGeneration.instructions": [
    {
      "file": ".agents/skills/git-commit/SKILL.md"
    }
  ]
}

That's it! When you now press the button, it will now use the skill to generate better commit messages.

Now that we've hooked up the button, we see a nice `feat:` prefix.

Automate it

If you need a more automated approach, use one of these scripts.

Bash

(
  if ! command -v jq >/dev/null 2>&1; then
    echo "jq is required but not installed."
    return
  fi

  if ! command -v npx >/dev/null 2>&1; then
    echo "npx is required but not installed."
    return
  fi

  if [ ! -f ".agents/skills/git-commit/SKILL.md" ]; then
    npx skills add https://github.com/github/awesome-copilot --skill git-commit --agent universal -y
  fi

  mkdir -p .vscode

  [ -f .vscode/settings.json ] || echo '{}' > .vscode/settings.json

  if jq -e '.["github.copilot.chat.commitMessageGeneration.instructions"][]?.file == ".agents/skills/git-commit/SKILL.md"' \
        .vscode/settings.json >/dev/null 2>&1; then
    echo "Skill already configured."
    return
  fi

  jq '.["github.copilot.chat.commitMessageGeneration.instructions"] =
        ((.["github.copilot.chat.commitMessageGeneration.instructions"] // [])
        + [{ "file": ".agents/skills/git-commit/SKILL.md" }])' \
      .vscode/settings.json > .vscode/settings.tmp \
      && mv .vscode/settings.tmp .vscode/settings.json
)

Powershell

& {
  if (-not (Get-Command jq -ErrorAction SilentlyContinue)) {
    Write-Host "jq is required but not installed."
    return
  }

  if (-not (Get-Command npx -ErrorAction SilentlyContinue)) {
    Write-Host "npx is required but not installed."
    return
  }

  if (-not (Test-Path ".agents/skills/git-commit/SKILL.md")) {
    npx skills add https://github.com/github/awesome-copilot --skill git-commit --agent universal -y
  }

  New-Item -ItemType Directory -Force -Path ".vscode" | Out-Null

  if (-not (Test-Path ".vscode/settings.json")) {
    '{}' | Set-Content ".vscode/settings.json" -Encoding utf8
  }

  $exists = jq -e '.["github.copilot.chat.commitMessageGeneration.instructions"][]?.file == ".agents/skills/git-commit/SKILL.md"' `
               ".vscode/settings.json" 2>$null

  if ($LASTEXITCODE -eq 0) {
    Write-Host "Skill already configured."
    return
  }

  jq '.["github.copilot.chat.commitMessageGeneration.instructions"] =
        ((.["github.copilot.chat.commitMessageGeneration.instructions"] // [])
        + [{ "file": ".agents/skills/git-commit/SKILL.md" }])' `
        ".vscode/settings.json" |
        Set-Content ".vscode/settings.json" -Encoding utf8
}

Improve VS Code Commit Messages with GitHub’s git-commit skill

Let's Give the Sparkle Button a Skill

Automate it

Further reading