Commitr

What it does

You stage your files. You press one button. Commitr reads your diff, understands what actually changed, and runs:

git commit -m "feat(auth): add token expiry check on protected routes"

directly in your terminal. No copy-pasting. No thinking about format. Just a clean, meaningful commit in your history.

Why Commitr is different

Most tools generate commit messages. Commitr focuses on generating the right commit message for how developers actually work.

1. Fully local. No API. No data leaving your machine.

Your diff never leaves your system. No tokens, no billing, no rate limits. Works offline, even on a plane.

2. Built for messy, real workflows

Most tools assume clean, incremental commits. Commitr is designed for when you have 20 files staged after a sprint and need to make sense of them. It reads the diff and tells the story.

3. Scope is inferred, not guessed

Commitr understands your project structure and maps file paths to meaningful scopes automatically. src/auth/login.ts → feat(auth) No manual tagging, no thinking.

4. It focuses on meaning, not just format

Other tools often produce technically correct but useless messages. Commitr prioritizes what changed and why, not just which files were touched.

5. Zero friction

No copying. No pasting. No switching tabs. You stage files, trigger Commitr, and the commit runs directly in your terminal.

Commitr is not trying to be another AI feature. It solves a very specific problem: turning diffs into meaningful history without breaking your flow.

Before you start

Commitr uses Ollama to run AI locally. Two steps, one time only:

1. Install Ollama

Head to ollama.com and download it for your OS. Takes about a minute.

2. Pull the model and start Ollama

ollama pull qwen2.5:3b
ollama serve

That's it. You never have to think about this again.

How to use it

Option 1 - Button in the Source Control panel

Open the Source Control tab, stage your files, and click the $(git-commit) icon in the panel header.

Option 2 - Keyboard shortcut

Ctrl + Shift + Alt + C
Cmd + Shift + Alt + C  (Mac)

Option 3 - Command Palette

Ctrl+Shift+P and search Commitr: Generate Commit Message.

What the output looks like

Commitr follows Conventional Commits by default:

feat(auth): add token expiry check on protected routes
fix(ui): guard against null user prop in UserCard render
refactor(api): simplify response pipeline with error boundary
docs: add docker compose setup to readme
chore: update esbuild and typescript devDependencies

Scope is inferred from your file paths automatically. Changed files all over the place? Scope gets omitted so the message stays clean.

Solo dev or team? Both work.

Solo dev - just install and go. Commitr picks up your VS Code settings and works out of the box.

Team - drop a .commitrrc file in your project root and commit it. Every teammate gets the exact same config automatically. No one needs to touch their settings.

{
  "model": "qwen2.5:3b",
  "commitStyle": "conventional",
  "generateBody": true,
  "scopeMappings": {
    "src/auth": "auth",
    "src/api": "api",
    "src/components": "ui"
  }
}

When .commitrrc is active, the status bar shows Commitr [.commitrrc] so everyone knows the shared config is running.

ollamaUrl is always personal and never read from .commitrrc. Everyone can point to their own Ollama instance.

Settings

Search Commitr in VS Code Settings (Ctrl+,).

Custom scope mappings

Got an unusual project structure? Tell Commitr how to map your paths:

{
  "commitr.scopeMappings": {
    "src/payments": "payments",
    "mobile/screens": "screens",
    "infra/terraform": "infra"
  }
}

Custom mappings always win over the inferred ones.

Using a different model

Any instruction-tuned model on Ollama works. Pull it and update your setting:

ollama pull mistral

{ "commitr.model": "mistral" }

qwen2.5:3b is the default because it is fast, small, and produces clean conventional commit output with very little drift on the format.

Troubleshooting

Ollama is not running Run ollama serve in your terminal. Commitr will offer to copy this command for you when it detects Ollama is offline.

Model is not pulled Run ollama pull qwen2.5:3b. If you trigger Commitr with a missing model, it will offer to copy the pull command for you.

No staged changes Run git add on your files first. Commitr only reads what is staged (git diff --cached).

Output looks wrong or ignores the format Commitr will warn you and ask if you want to use it anyway or discard it. If this happens often, try freeform mode or a larger model.

Button not showing in the SCM panel Make sure you have a git repository open in your workspace and the built-in Git extension is active.

.commitrrc not being picked up The file needs to be in the root of your workspace folder, at the same level as your .git directory. Commitr will show a warning toast if the file exists but cannot be parsed.

Privacy

Your staged diff is sent to a model running locally on your machine through Ollama. Nothing leaves your network. No data is collected, stored, or sent anywhere. Ever.