Instruction file imported from McNutt-Stuff/continuity-vault (.github/instructions/auto-commit.instructions.md). Copyright stays with the author.

Auto-commit on coding-cycle completion

When you finish a coding cycle — a self-contained change (feature, fix, refactor) that is implemented AND validated — commit it automatically before ending your turn. Do not wait to be asked.

When to commit

• After the change is complete and verified: syntax/type checks pass (python3 -c "import ast; ast.parse(...)" or py_compile for Python; get_errors for TS), and any quick local checks are green.
• One logical change per commit. If a turn produced several unrelated changes, make several commits.
• Do not commit half-finished or non-compiling work. If validation fails, fix it first (or leave it uncommitted and say so).

What to stage

• Stage only the files that belong to this change: prefer git add <specific paths> over git add -A.
• Never stage secrets, credentials, .env files, large build artifacts, or unrelated in-progress files. Inspect git status --porcelain and git diff --staged --stat before committing.
• If unfamiliar/unexpected files are present, leave them alone and mention them rather than committing them.

Commit message format

Use Conventional Commits with an accurate scope and an informative body:

<type>(<scope>): <concise summary in imperative mood>

- what changed and why (1–4 bullets)
- note any migrations, new deps, or follow-ups (e.g. deploy, run git-update.sh)

• type: feat | fix | refactor | docs | chore | perf | test.
• scope: the area touched — e.g. costs, notifications, cloud-api, web, appliance, models.
• Summary ≤ ~72 chars, imperative ("add", "fix", not "added"/"fixes").
• The body must reflect what actually changed — never a generic "update files".
• Call out DB migrations (model + db.py ALTER), new requirements.txt/package deps, and doc updates.

Run the commit with a heredoc so the body is preserved, e.g.:

git add cloud/app/cloud_costs.py cloud/app/api/costs.py
git commit -F - <<'EOF'
fix(costs): scope cost attribution per hyperscaler provider

- an AWS bill was split across Azure nodes (and vice versa); scope nodes/storage by provider
- force-refresh replaces the current hour's samples so new resource ids apply immediately
EOF

Safety

• Commit locally only. Do NOT git push — pushing is a shared/hard-to-reverse action that needs explicit user confirmation (it also triggers the production deploy via git-update.sh).
• Never use --no-verify, git commit --amend on already-pushed commits, git reset --hard, or force ops.
• If a pre-commit hook fails, fix the underlying issue — do not bypass it.
• After committing, briefly state the commit subject so the user knows what landed.