This post goes over how to lint Git commit messages with commitlint and husky (see demo repository).

• husky
• husky 4

Prerequisites

• Node.js

Husky

This section goes over how to set up commitlint with the latest husky version.

Watch YouTube video:

Install commitlint with a config:

npm install @commitlint/{cli,config-conventional} --save-dev

This command installs both @commitlint/cli and @commitlint/config-conventional.

config-conventional is a standard based on the Angular convention.

Create .commitlintrc.json, which extends the rules from config-conventional:

touch .commitlintrc.json

{
  "extends": ["@commitlint/config-conventional"]
}

Or export the rules in commitlint.config.js:

touch commitlint.config.js

module.exports = {
  extends: ['@commitlint/config-conventional'],
};

Install husky:

npm install husky --save-dev

Enable Git hooks:

npx husky install

Or add postinstall script to package.json to enable Git hooks after npm install:

{
  "private": true,
  "scripts": {
    "postinstall": "husky install"
  },
  "devDependencies": {
    "@commitlint/cli": "latest",
    "@commitlint/config-conventional": "latest",
    "husky": "latest"
  }
}

It’s assumed that the package is private. If the package is public, then make sure to disable postinstall script using pinst. See Husky docs for more information.

Add the commit-msg hook:

npx husky add .husky/commit-msg 'npx commitlint --edit $1'

Make sure to use single quotes intead of double quotes so $1 is not escaped.

Test that the commit hook works.

Husky 4

This section goes over how to set up commitlint with husky version 4.

Install commitlint with a config:

npm install @commitlint/{cli,config-conventional} --save-dev

Create .commitlintrc.json, which extends the rules from config-conventional:

touch .commitlintrc.json

{
  "extends": ["@commitlint/config-conventional"]
}

Or export the rules in commitlint.config.js:

touch commitlint.config.js

module.exports = {
  extends: ['@commitlint/config-conventional'],
};

Install husky@4, which sets up the Git hooks:

npm install husky@4 --save-dev

Create .huskyrc (or .huskyrc.json) and add the Git commit-msg hook that runs commitlint:

{
  "hooks": {
    "commit-msg": "commitlint -E HUSKY_GIT_PARAMS"
  }
}

Or add the hook to package.json:

{
  "devDependencies": {
    "@commitlint/cli": "latest",
    "@commitlint/config-conventional": "latest",
    "husky": "4"
  },
  "husky": {
    "hooks": {
      "commit-msg": "commitlint -E HUSKY_GIT_PARAMS"
    }
  }
}

Test that the commit hook works.

Test

Commit and verify the message follows Conventional Commits:

git commit -m 'add commitlint' # fail

git commit -m 'feat: add commitlint' # success