Claude Commit Preview
Preview your Claude commit message before you commit or push — AI-generated, in your repo's own style, fully editable in VS Code's Source Control box. Powered by the Claude Code CLI. Works in single repos and multi-root, monorepo & umbrella workspaces — the ✨ button always targets the repo you click.
See It in Action
Stage your changes, click ✨, and Claude fills your commit message box instantly.
Read it. Edit it if you want. Then commit.
Why Claude Commit Preview?
Most AI commit tools commit blindly — you don't see what's being written until it's done.
Claude Commit Preview puts you in the driver's seat.
- Claude reads your staged diff, branch, and recent history using the Claude Code CLI already on your machine
- It writes a commit message in your repository's own style — and drops it into the Source Control input box, visible and editable
- You choose: Commit Now or Edit First
You always review before anything is committed. No surprises, no blind pushes.
How It Works
git add (stage changes)
↓
Click ✨ in Source Control toolbar
↓
Claude reads your staged diff + branch + recent commits via Claude CLI
↓
Commit message appears in the SCM input box ← you can read & edit here
↓
"Commit Now" or "Edit First" — your choice
This mirrors the official /commit-commands:commit workflow — but it previews instead of committing, so the final commit is always your call.
What the Message Looks Like
Claude writes the whole message — subject, body, ticket, and co-author trailer — matching the conventions it sees in your recent commits:
feat: support agent run cancellation [XX-12345]
Add cancelled activity status and sync linked activity status from run
items, treating cancellation as final so a racing worker write cannot
revive a cancelled item or activity.
Co-Authored-By: Claude <noreply@anthropic.com>
- Conventional Commits subject focused on intent, not a file-by-file dump
- Ticket tag (e.g.
[XX-12345]) inferred from your branch name and recent commit history — no configuration, no regex to maintain
- Co-Authored-By trailer written by Claude itself, carrying the actual model name
Requirements
- Claude Code CLI installed and authenticated (
claude --version should work in your terminal)
- VS Code 1.85+
- A git repository with staged changes (
git add)
Features
- Preview your commit message before committing — written into the SCM box, never committed blindly
- Matches your repo's commit style — Claude learns the format from your recent commits, like
/commit-commands:commit
- Smart ticket detection — Jira/Linear tickets (e.g.
XX-12345) inferred from the branch and history, placed in the subject
- Co-Authored-By trailer — attribution added automatically (toggleable)
- Edit before you commit — full control, always
- One-click generation — ✨ sparkle button in the Source Control toolbar
- Multi-root, monorepo & umbrella workspace support — the ✨ button targets the exact repository whose Source Control section you click, even when many repos are open at once
- No API key required — reuses your existing Claude Code CLI session
- Works with any language or framework
- Debug output panel — full step-by-step logs in the Output panel
Ticket Detection
If your branch name contains a ticket number, Claude includes it in the commit subject — and follows whatever bracket convention your recent commits already use:
| Branch name |
Subject tag |
XX |
[XX-123] |
fix/XX-12345 |
[XX-12345] |
feat/XX-123-some-description |
[XX-123] |
main, develop |
(none — no ticket to infer) |
No allow-list to configure — Claude infers the project key and format from your history.
Extension Settings
| Setting |
Default |
Description |
claudeCommitPreview.addCoAuthor |
true |
Ask Claude to end the message with its Co-Authored-By trailer, matching the /commit-commands:commit style. |
Troubleshooting
✨ button not visible?
Make sure you have a git repository open and the Source Control panel is active (Ctrl+Shift+G).
"No staged changes found"
Run git add <file> or use the + button in Source Control to stage files first.
Claude CLI error?
Open the Output panel (Ctrl+Shift+U) → select Claude Commit Preview to see detailed logs.
Make sure claude is in your PATH: run claude --version in a terminal to verify.
No ticket in the message?
Claude infers the ticket from your branch name and recent commits. Branches without a ABC-123 pattern (like main or develop) have nothing to infer, and an empty history gives Claude no convention to follow.
Debug Logs
Open the Output panel (Ctrl+Shift+U) → select Claude Commit Preview from the dropdown to see step-by-step logs for every generation attempt.
Contributing
Issues and PRs welcome at github.com/hiren-ghodasara/claude-commit-preview.
License
MIT © Hiren Ghodasara
