Writing Better Git Commit Messages in Laravel Projects

How following a simple convention can make your project easier to maintain and collaborate on

One of the small things that makes a big difference over time is how you write your commit messages.

If you’ve ever tried to track down the cause of a bug or understand why something changed months later, you know how frustrating a vague commit like update stuff can be. And if you're working in a team or maintaining open source code, this only gets worse.

The solution? Use conventional commit prefixes, a simple system that helps make your history more useful, especially when working in Laravel or similar PHP projects.

The Core Idea: Prefix Your Commits with Purpose

Conventional commits use a consistent format like this:

type(scope): short description

Where:

• type is the nature of the change (feat, fix, chore, etc.)
• scope is optional, but helps clarify where the change applies (e.g. routes, auth, queue)
• description is what actually changed, in plain language

Example:

feat(auth): allow login via username or email

This one-line change tells you it’s a new feature, it touches the authentication system, and what it does.

Common Prefixes and When to Use Them

Prefix	Use when...	Example
feat	You’re adding a new feature	feat(cli): add --dry-run mode
fix	You’re fixing a bug	fix(env): default fallback wasn't applying
refactor	You’re changing code structure with no behavior change	refactor(queue): extract job handler logic
chore	You’re doing maintenance tasks	chore(lockfile): update dependencies
docs	You’re improving documentation	docs(readme): clarify deployment steps
test	You’re adding or changing tests	test(api): add test coverage for error responses
ci	You’re updating GitHub Actions or CI config	ci: add cache for Composer packages
build	You’re making changes to the build process	build: add Dockerfile for local dev

It’s straightforward, but it pays off immediately when scanning git log or reviewing pull requests.

Why It’s Worth Using

Here’s why I’ve started using it in my Laravel projects:

• It makes my commit history searchable and readable.
• It improves the quality of pull requests.
• It helps versioning tools like semantic-release generate changelogs and bump versions automatically.
• It makes collaborating easier. People understand what changed before reading a single line of code.

It’s also something people like Nuno Maduro and other Laravel core contributors use routinely, even if informally. It’s a good standard to follow.

Add a Commit Linter (Optional but Recommended)

If you want to enforce this across your team, you can use Husky and commitlint to block non-conforming messages:

npm install --save-dev husky @commitlint/{cli,config-conventional}
npx husky install
npx husky add .husky/commit-msg 'npx --no -- commitlint --edit "$1"'

Add this config file:

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

Now your commits will get linted automatically. No more vague or unclear messages slipping into your history.

Final Thoughts

This isn't about being overly strict. It’s about being clear. Good commit messages are a low-cost way to make your project easier to understand and work on, especially as it grows.

Whether you're solo or working with a team, adopting a consistent format makes a difference. If you're using Laravel or any PHP framework, there's no downside to starting with conventional commits.

It takes a few seconds per commit. But over time, it saves hours of confusion and rework.