gi

gi is a command-line tool that uses AI to generate meaningful commit messages for your git changes. It analyzes your diff, understands the changes made, and creates conventional commit messages that accurately describe your work. No more struggling with commit message wording or forgetting what changes you made!

Install

You can install gi globally from npm:

npm install -g @joelthompson/gi

Or if you prefer using pnpm:

pnpm add -g @joelthompson/gi

After installation, the gi command will be available globally in your terminal.

NOTE: i'm updating frequently, so you may need to run pnpm update -g @joelthompson/gi to get the latest version.

Setup

It uses an openai api key, and expects a config file in ~/.gi.config.json.

example config file:

{
  "openaiApiKey": "your key here"
}

Usage

Important: The -c (commit) flag is required to perform any actions. Running the tool without flags will show the help screen:

# No flags passed
$ gi
Flags passed: {"dryRun":false,"commit":false,"verbose":false,"yesCommit":false}
No action taken. Please use one of the following options:
--commit (-c) Generate and apply an AI commit message
--dry-run (-d) Show what would be committed without making changes
--verbose (-v) Show detailed output including full diff
--yesCommit (-y) Skip confirmation and commit directly


# Generate an AI commit message and prompt for confirmation
$ gi -c
message: feat: add user authentication system
Press Y to confirm or N to cancel

# Dry run - shows the AI-generated message without committing
$ gi -c -d
message: docs: update API documentation

# Show verbose output including the full diff being analyzed
$ gi -c -v
message: feat: add new feature
Press Y to confirm or N to cancel

# Skip confirmation and commit directly with AI-generated message
$ gi -c -y
message: fix: resolve login issue

I prefer to set an alias for my preffered way to run the tool. Example:

alias gii="gi -c -y"

The tool will:

• Automatically exclude lock files (pnpm-lock.yaml, package-lock.json, yarn.lock)
• Ignore node_modules and image files (png, jpg, jpeg, gif, svg, webp, bmp, ico)
• Generate conventional commit messages (feat, fix, docs, etc.)
• Handle both tracked and untracked files
• Limit diff size to 5000 characters for optimal processing

Special cases:

• If there are no changes to commit, it will show "No changes to commit"
• If the diff is too large (>5000 chars), it will show "Diff too big to process"

CLI

$ gi

  Usage
    $ gi [options]

  Options
    -c, --commit     Add and commit changes with AI-generated message
    -d, --dry-run    Show what would be committed without making changes
    -v, --verbose    Show detailed output including full diff
    -y, --yesCommit  Skip confirmation and commit directly

  Examples
    $ gi -c
    # Generates commit message and prompts for confirmation
    
    $ gi -c -d
    # Shows generated message without committing
    
    $ gi -c -v
    # Shows full diff and generated message
    
    $ gi -c -y
    # Commits changes immediately with AI message