Sentry Commit Messages

Follow these conventions when creating commits for Sentry projects.

Prerequisites

Before committing, always check the current branch:

git branch --show-current

If you're on main or master, you MUST create a feature branch first — unless the user explicitly asked to commit to main. Do not ask the user whether to create a branch; just proceed with branch creation, then re-check the current branch before committing. If still on main or master, stop — do not commit.

Format

<type>(<scope>): <subject>

<body>

<footer>

The header is required. Scope is optional. All lines must stay under 100 characters.

Commit Types

Type	Purpose
feat	New feature
fix	Bug fix
ref	Refactoring (no behavior change)
perf	Performance improvement
docs	Documentation only
test	Test additions or corrections
build	Build system or dependencies
ci	CI configuration
chore	Maintenance tasks
style	Code formatting (no logic change)
meta	Repository metadata
license	License changes

Subject Line Rules

• Use imperative, present tense: "Add feature" not "Added feature"
• Capitalize the first letter
• No period at the end
• Maximum 70 characters

Body Guidelines

• Explain what and why, not how
• Use imperative mood and present tense
• Include motivation for the change
• Contrast with previous behavior when relevant
• Use real newlines in commit bodies; never include literal \n sequences
• Never include customer data — customer/org names, user emails, support ticket contents, or PII. Describe the technical symptom, not who hit it, and if available, reference the internal ticket (e.g. Fixes SENTRY-1234).

Commit Command Hygiene

When creating commits from the CLI, do not embed escaped newlines like \n inside -m strings. That produces literal backslash characters in the final commit message.

Prefer one of these patterns:

git commit -m "type(scope): Subject" \
  -m "First paragraph with real line wrapping.

Second paragraph.

Fixes GH-1234
Co-Authored-By: (the agent's name and attribution byline)"

git commit

Use the editor flow when the message needs careful formatting.

Footer: Issue References

Reference issues in the footer using these patterns:

Fixes GH-1234
Fixes #1234
Fixes SENTRY-1234
Refs LINEAR-ABC-123

• Fixes closes the issue when merged
• Refs links without closing

AI-Generated Changes

When changes were primarily generated by a coding agent, include the Co-Authored-By attribution in the commit footer. Agents should use their own identity:

Co-Authored-By: (the agent's name and attribution byline)

Example: Co-Authored-By: Claude Sonnet 4 <noreply@example.com>

This is the only indicator of AI involvement that should appear in commits. Do not add phrases like "Generated by AI", "Written with Claude", or similar markers in the subject, body, or anywhere else in the commit message.

Examples

Simple fix

fix(api): Handle null response in user endpoint

The user API could return null for deleted accounts, causing a crash
in the dashboard. Add null check before accessing user properties.

Fixes SENTRY-5678
Co-Authored-By: (the agent's name and attribution byline)

Feature with scope

feat(alerts): Add Slack thread replies for alert updates

When an alert is updated or resolved, post a reply to the original
Slack thread instead of creating a new message. This keeps related
notifications grouped together.

Refs GH-1234

Refactor

ref: Extract common validation logic to shared module

Move duplicate validation code from three endpoints into a shared
validator class. No behavior change.

Breaking change

feat(api)!: Remove deprecated v1 endpoints

Remove all v1 API endpoints that were deprecated in version 23.1.
Clients should migrate to v2 endpoints.

BREAKING CHANGE: v1 endpoints no longer available
Fixes SENTRY-9999

Revert Format

revert: feat(api): Add new endpoint

This reverts commit abc123def456.

Reason: Caused performance regression in production.

Principles

• Each commit should be a single, stable change
• Commits should be independently reviewable
• The repository should be in a working state after each commit

References

• Sentry Commit Messages