Getting started

Install

Install @commitlint/cli and a @commitlint/config-* / commitlint-config-* of your choice as devDependency and configure commitlint to use it.

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npm install -D @commitlint/cli @commitlint/config-conventional

yarn add -D @commitlint/cli @commitlint/config-conventional

pnpm add -D @commitlint/cli @commitlint/config-conventional

bun add -d @commitlint/cli @commitlint/config-conventional

deno add -D npm:@commitlint/cli npm:@commitlint/config-conventional

:::

Configuration

Configure commitlint to use conventional config

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echo "export default { extends: ['@commitlint/config-conventional'] };" > commitlint.config.js

# Here we use the node command to avoid encoding issue on Windows.
node -e "fs.writeFileSync('commitlint.config.js', process.argv[1])" "export default { extends: ['@commitlint/config-conventional'] };"

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[!WARNING] Node v24 changes the way that modules are loaded, and this includes the commitlint config file. If your project does not contain a package.json, commitlint may fail to load the config, resulting in a Please add rules to your commitlint.config.js error message. This can be fixed by doing either of the following:

• Add a package.json file, declaring your project as an ES6 module. This can be done easily by running npm init es6.
• Rename the config file from commitlint.config.js to commitlint.config.mjs.

Refer to configuration documentation for more information.