skillboardUpdated every 6 hours
skillboardAnalyzes git diffs or staged changes and generates narrative commit messages that explain WHY a change was made, not just what changed — following Conventional Commits format. Use when asked to "write a commit message", "generate a commit", "describe my changes", "what should I commit this as", "commit this", "summarize my diff", or "help me commit". Works with git diff output, staged files, or plain descriptions of changes.
Transforms raw git diffs and change descriptions into clear, story-driven commit messages that follow the Conventional Commits specification. Instead of "update file.js", you get messages that communicate intent, context, and impact.
Have at least one of the following ready:
git diff or git diff --stagedAsk the user (or infer from the diff) for:
If the user provides a raw git diff, extract this context automatically from the diff.
Map the change to a Conventional Commits type using this guide:
| Type | Use When |
|------|----------|
| feat | A new feature or capability is added |
| fix | A bug or incorrect behavior is corrected |
| refactor | Code restructured without changing behavior |
| perf | A change that improves performance |
| docs | Documentation only changes |
| style | Formatting, whitespace, missing semicolons (no logic change) |
| test | Adding or updating tests |
| chore | Build process, dependency updates, config changes |
| ci | CI/CD pipeline changes |
| revert | Reverting a previous commit |
See references/conventional-commits-guide.md for detailed examples.
Follow this structure:
<type>(<optional scope>): <short imperative summary>
<body — the story: why this change was made, what problem it solves>
<footer — issue refs, breaking change notices>
Subject line (first line):
Body (the story):
Footer:
Closes #123, Fixes #456, Refs #789BREAKING CHANGE: <description>Produce the commit message in a copyable code block, followed by a one-line plain-English explanation of the story you told.
Example output:
fix(auth): prevent token refresh loop on expired sessions
When a user's session expired mid-request, the auth middleware was
triggering a token refresh, which itself failed validation and triggered
another refresh — causing an infinite retry loop that crashed the app.
This adds a recursion guard flag that aborts the refresh cycle if a
refresh is already in progress, returning a clean 401 instead.
Closes #312
Story told: A silent infinite loop on session expiry was crashing the app; this stops the cycle early and returns a clean error.
If the diff contains logically separate changes, split them into multiple commit messages and tell the user. Use this heuristic:
| Situation | How to Handle |
|-----------|---------------|
| User provides no context beyond a diff | Infer type and scope from file names and changed symbols |
| Changes span many files with no clear theme | Ask: "Is this one logical change, or multiple?" |
| Breaking change detected | Add BREAKING CHANGE: footer automatically |
| User says "keep it short" | Omit body, just write a strong subject line |
| No issue number available | Omit the footer entirely |
# Get your staged diff to paste into Copilot
git diff --staged
# Or get the last uncommitted working tree changes
git diff
See references/conventional-commits-guide.md for type examples and scope guidelines.
Copy a source-pinned command for your client. You run it yourself.
Destination: .claude/skills/commit-message-storyteller · pinned to the source commit
# Run from your project root
git clone https://github.com/github/awesome-copilot.git .skillboard-tmp
git -C .skillboard-tmp checkout f11a4e441c5ff061b4f8ae37952be8c602e4034e
mkdir -p ".claude/skills"
cp -r ".skillboard-tmp/skills/commit-message-storyteller" ".claude/skills/"
rm -rf .skillboard-tmpReview the source before running. This copies files into your project; it is not a one-click install and does not verify runtime safety.
sudo apt update && sudo apt install -y gitnpm install -g @anthropic-ai/claude-code# Run from your project root
git clone https://github.com/github/awesome-copilot.git .skillboard-tmp
git -C .skillboard-tmp checkout f11a4e441c5ff061b4f8ae37952be8c602e4034e
mkdir -p ".claude/skills"
cp -r ".skillboard-tmp/skills/commit-message-storyteller" ".claude/skills/"
rm -rf .skillboard-tmpDestination: .claude/skills/commit-message-storyteller
Scanner static-checks@0.1.0 · commit f11a4e441c5f. Static checks cannot prove runtime safety – review the source and the exact diff before installing. How checks work.
No static rules matched. This is not a safety guarantee.