Commit Messages on Autopilot: How I Built an AI-Powered Tool to Save Time and Sanity

The Problem: Writing Commit Messages Sucks If you've ever worked on a project with frequent commits, you know the pain of writing commit messages. In the past year alone, I've made over 2,500 commits—and I had to write every single message. Some were clear and meaningful. Others? Not so much. I’d often type something generic like fix stuff or small changes just to move on. But when I needed to revisit those changes, I had zero context on what actually happened in those commits. Wouldn't it be great if something could just write the commit messages for me? The Idea: Let AI Do the Heavy Lifting That's when I decided to build Cortex CLI, an AI-powered commit message generator. The idea was simple: Read my code changes Pass them to an AI Get a meaningful commit message in return I started this as a quick side project, but it quickly became indispensable. Now, I use it every single day, and some of my friends do too. Last month alone, three of us generated over 700 commit messages using Cortex. The time savings have been massive, and my commit history has never been this clean. How It Works The CLI: Your Terminal's Best Friend Cortex CLI is a command-line tool that integrates seamlessly into your workflow. After installing it and setting your API token, you can generate commit messages like magic: cortex commit-message --commitStaged Boom! AI-generated commit messages, no thinking required. You just review the output and move on. Want to integrate it deeper? You can create a .cortexrc file in your projects to customize how the AI generates messages. One of my favorite features is the --preScript flag, which runs unit tests and linting before committing. No more broken commits!

Feb 12, 2025 - 02:03

Commit Messages on Autopilot: How I Built an AI-Powered Tool to Save Time and Sanity

The Problem: Writing Commit Messages Sucks

If you've ever worked on a project with frequent commits, you know the pain of writing commit messages. In the past year alone, I've made over 2,500 commits—and I had to write every single message.

Some were clear and meaningful. Others? Not so much. I’d often type something generic like fix stuff or small changes just to move on. But when I needed to revisit those changes, I had zero context on what actually happened in those commits.

Wouldn't it be great if something could just write the commit messages for me?

The Idea: Let AI Do the Heavy Lifting

That's when I decided to build Cortex CLI, an AI-powered commit message generator. The idea was simple:

Read my code changes
Pass them to an AI
Get a meaningful commit message in return

I started this as a quick side project, but it quickly became indispensable. Now, I use it every single day, and some of my friends do too.

Last month alone, three of us generated over 700 commit messages using Cortex. The time savings have been massive, and my commit history has never been this clean.

How It Works

The CLI: Your Terminal's Best Friend

Cortex CLI is a command-line tool that integrates seamlessly into your workflow. After installing it and setting your API token, you can generate commit messages like magic:

cortex commit-message --commitStaged

Boom! AI-generated commit messages, no thinking required. You just review the output and move on.

Want to integrate it deeper? You can create a .cortexrc file in your projects to customize how the AI generates messages. One of my favorite features is the --preScript flag, which runs unit tests and linting before committing. No more broken commits!