AI Commit & PR Generator
Generate git commit messages and pull request descriptions using AI, directly inside VS Code.
- Commit messages follow Conventional Commits —
feat, fix, refactor, etc.
- PR descriptions follow your repository's PR template
- Two backends to choose from:
- OpenRouter — any model (Claude, GPT, Gemini, Mistral…) via one API key
- Claude CLI — reuses your existing, authenticated Claude Code session. No API key required.
What is OpenRouter?
OpenRouter is a service that gives you access to dozens of AI models through a single API key. Instead of signing up separately for Anthropic, OpenAI, and Google, you create one account and can switch between models freely.
New accounts receive free credits. Most models cost a fraction of a cent per request — generating a commit message or PR description typically costs less than $0.01.
Choosing a backend
Set aiCommitPr.provider in Settings (search AI Commit):
openrouter (default) — uses the OpenRouter API. Follow the Setup below to add a key.claude-cli — shells out to the claude command-line tool, reusing whatever session you're already logged into (including SSO). Nothing to configure beyond having the Claude CLI installed and logged in (claude → /login). If claude isn't on your PATH — common with nvm installs under WSL — set aiCommitPr.claudeCliPath to its full path.
The rest of this guide covers the OpenRouter setup. If you use the Claude CLI backend, skip to Generating a commit message.
Setup
1. Get an API key
- Create a free account at openrouter.ai
- Go to openrouter.ai/keys and click Create key
- Copy the key — it starts with
sk-or-...
2. Add the key to VS Code
- Open Settings with
Ctrl+,
- Search for AI Commit
- Paste your key into the Open Router Api Key field
Generating a commit message
- Stage the files you want to commit (click
+ next to each file in the Source Control panel)
- Click the ✨ icon in the top-right of the Source Control panel
- The commit message fills in automatically — review it and commit normally
The ✨ icon only appears when you have staged changes.
Generating a PR description
From the command palette
- Make sure you're on a feature branch (not
main or master)
- Press
Ctrl+Shift+P, type AI Commit: Generate AI PR Description, and press Enter
- A panel opens with the generated Title and Body
- Use Copy Title and Copy Body to paste into GitHub
From the GitHub Pull Requests panel
If you use the GitHub Pull Requests extension:
- Open the Create Pull Request panel in the sidebar
- Click the ✨ icon in the top-right of that panel
- The PR title is automatically copied to your clipboard — paste it into the Title field
- Copy the body from the side panel that opens
Choosing a model
The default is openai/gpt-oss-120b:free — free, 120B parameters, 262K context. You can change it in Settings → search AI Commit → Model.
Free models
Models with the :free suffix have no cost. Use the Programming category filter for models benchmarked on code tasks — they handle diffs and technical writing better than general-purpose models. Browse the full list at openrouter.ai/models?q=free&categories=programming.
| Model |
Context |
Notes |
google/gemma-4-31b-it:free |
262K |
Google, solid quality for code |
openai/gpt-oss-120b:free |
262K |
OpenAI, large model, best free option |
nvidia/nemotron-3-super-120b-a12b:free |
262K |
NVIDIA, large model, excellent quality |
nvidia/nemotron-3-nano-30b-a3b:free |
256K |
NVIDIA, lighter and faster |
openrouter/free |
200K |
Auto-routes to an available free model |
Paid models
| Model |
Quality |
Cost (approx.) |
anthropic/claude-3.5-sonnet |
★★★★★ |
~$0.003 / req |
anthropic/claude-3-haiku |
★★★★☆ |
~$0.0003 / req |
openai/gpt-4o |
★★★★★ |
~$0.005 / req |
openai/gpt-4o-mini |
★★★★☆ |
~$0.0006 / req |
google/gemini-flash-1.5 |
★★★★☆ |
~$0.0001 / req |
Browse all models at openrouter.ai/models.
PR template
If your repository has a PR template, the extension finds and uses it automatically as the structure for the generated description. It checks these paths:
.github/pull_request_template.md.github/PULL_REQUEST_TEMPLATE.mdpull_request_template.mddocs/pull_request_template.md
All settings
| Setting |
Default |
Description |
aiCommitPr.provider |
openrouter |
Backend to use: openrouter or claude-cli |
aiCommitPr.claudeCliPath |
claude |
Path to the Claude CLI binary (override if not on PATH, e.g. nvm under WSL) |
aiCommitPr.openRouterApiKey |
(empty) |
Your OpenRouter API key (OpenRouter backend only) |
aiCommitPr.model |
openai/gpt-oss-120b:free |
AI model to use (OpenRouter backend only) |
aiCommitPr.baseBranch |
main |
Branch to compare against for PR diff |
aiCommitPr.commitPrompt |
Default prompt |
Custom prompt for commit messages. Use {diff} as placeholder. Leave empty to use the default. |
aiCommitPr.prPrompt |
Default prompt |
Custom prompt for PR descriptions. Use {history} and {template} as placeholders. Leave empty to use the default. |
Troubleshooting
✨ icon doesn't appear in Source Control
Stage at least one file first by clicking the + icon next to it.
"No commits found between current branch and main"
You're on the base branch, or there are no commits on your branch yet. Switch to a feature branch with at least one commit.
"OpenRouter API key is not configured"
Follow the Setup steps above, or switch aiCommitPr.provider to claude-cli to use the Claude CLI instead.
"Claude CLI not found"
Install the Claude CLI, or set aiCommitPr.claudeCliPath to its full path (run which claude to find it).
"Claude CLI isn't logged in"
Run claude in a terminal and use /login to authenticate, then try again.
Request fails even with a valid key
Check your account balance at openrouter.ai/credits. New accounts get free credits but they can run out.
✨ icon doesn't appear in the GitHub Pull Requests panel
Make sure the GitHub Pull Requests extension is installed and the Create Pull Request panel is open.
Source
github.com/w-osilva/ai-commit-pr-generator
