Glossary
Conventional Commits
Conventional Commits is a specification for writing commit messages with a structured prefix, such as feat or fix, so that tools can automatically classify changes, determine version bumps, and generate a changelog.
A Conventional Commit message follows the shape 'type(scope): description', for example 'feat(auth): add single sign-on' or 'fix: correct timezone in date picker'. The type at the front carries machine-readable meaning: feat indicates a new feature, fix indicates a bug fix, and other types like docs, refactor, perf, and chore describe non-user-facing work.
Because the intent is encoded in the message, automated tools can read the commit history and build a grouped changelog without manual sorting. The same types drive semantic version bumps: a fix produces a patch bump, a feat produces a minor bump, and a commit marked with an exclamation mark or a BREAKING CHANGE footer produces a major bump.
Teams typically enforce the format with a commit-message linter and squash-merge pull requests so each merged change becomes one clean, well-formed commit. The payoff is automated, accurate versioning and changelog generation that stays consistent across the whole project.