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>

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