CommitNachricht

CommitNachricht is the descriptive text attached to a commit in a version control system, most commonly Git. It records what changes were made and why they were made. A well-crafted CommitNachricht helps developers review history, understand the project evolution, and revert changes if necessary.

Typically, a CommitNachricht consists of a short subject line, a blank line, and an optional longer body. The subject should be concise, often limited to about 50–72 characters, and written in the imperative mood (for example, "Fix null pointer in login flow"). The body provides context, motivation, and details about any impact, such as affected modules or potential side effects. If applicable, references to related issues or tasks can be included in the body or footer, for example "Closes #123" or "Refs #456".

Many teams follow conventions to standardize messages. Examples include Conventional Commits, which use prefixes like feat, fix, docs, style, refactor, test, and chore to categorize changes. Depending on project policy, messages may be written in English or the project’s primary language. It is common to reference issues or tasks as part of the message.

The CommitNachricht is stored in the repository history and is searchable; it supports code reviews, debugging, and auditing. Tools can extract messages to generate changelogs or release notes, and developers can revert a range of commits using the information in messages.

Example: "feat: add user authentication with JWT" followed by a body that explains the rationale, API changes, and any migration steps or deprecations.