## Setup

> The minimum supported version of Node.js is the latest v14. Check your Node.js version with `node --version`.

1. Install _autoCommit_:

   ```sh
   npm install -g auto-commit-ai
   ```

2. Retrieve your API key from [AutoCommit](https://autocommit.top/dashboard)

3. Set the key so autoCommit can use it:

   ```sh
   autoCommit config set authtoken=<your authtoken token>
   ```

   This will create a `.autoCommit` file in your home directory.

### Upgrading

Check the installed version with:

```sh
npm update -g auto-commit-ai
```

## Usage

### CLI mode

You can call `autoCommit` directly to generate a commit message for your staged changes:

```sh
git add <files...>
autoCommit
```

`autoCommit` passes down unknown flags to `git commit`, so you can pass in [`commit` flags](https://git-scm.com/docs/git-commit).

For example, you can stage all changes in tracked files with as you commit:

```sh
autoCommit --all # or -a
```

> 👉 **Tip:** Use the `aca` alias if `autoCommit` is too long for you.

#### Generate multiple recommendations

Sometimes the recommended commit message isn't the best so you want it to generate a few to pick from. You can generate multiple commit messages at once by passing in the `--generate <i>` flag, where 'i' is the number of generated messages:

```sh
autoCommit --generate <i> # or -g <i>
```

> Warning: this uses more tokens, meaning it costs more.

#### Generating Conventional Commits

If you'd like to generate [Conventional Commits](https://conventionalcommits.org/), you can use the `--type` flag followed by `conventional`. This will prompt `autoCommit` to format the commit message according to the Conventional Commits specification:

```sh
autoCommit --type conventional # or -t conventional
```

This feature can be useful if your project follows the Conventional Commits standard or if you're using tools that rely on this commit format.

### Git hook

You can also integrate _autoCommit_ with Git via the [`prepare-commit-msg`](https://git-scm.com/docs/githooks#_prepare_commit_msg) hook. This lets you use Git like you normally would, and edit the commit message before committing.

#### Install

In the Git repository you want to install the hook in:

```sh
autoCommit hook install
```

#### Uninstall

In the Git repository you want to uninstall the hook from:

```sh
autoCommit hook uninstall
```

#### Usage

1. Stage your files and commit:

   ```sh
   git add <files...>
   git commit # Only generates a message when it's not passed in
   ```

   > If you ever want to write your own message instead of generating one, you can simply pass one in: `git commit -m "My message"`

2. autoCommit will generate the commit message for you and pass it back to Git. Git will open it with the [configured editor](https://docs.github.com/en/get-started/getting-started-with-git/associating-text-editors-with-git) for you to review/edit it.

3. Save and close the editor to commit!

## Configuration

### Reading a configuration value

To retrieve a configuration option, use the command:

```sh
autoCommit config get <key>
```

For example, to retrieve the API key, you can use:

```sh
autoCommit config get authtoken
```

You can also retrieve multiple configuration options at once by separating them with spaces:

```sh
autoCommit config get authtoken generate
```

### Setting a configuration value

To set a configuration option, use the command:

```sh
autoCommit config set <key>=<value>
```

For example, to set the API key, you can use:

```sh
autoCommit config set authtoken=<your-api-key>
```

You can also set multiple configuration options at once by separating them with spaces, like

```sh
autoCommit config set authtoken=<your-api-key> generate=3 locale=en
```

### Options

#### authtoken

Required

The AutoCommit API key. You can retrieve it from [AutoCommit API Keys page](https://www.autocommit.top/).

#### locale

Default: `en`

The locale to use for the generated commit messages. Consult the list of codes in: https://wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_ISO_639-1_codes.

#### generate

Default: `1`

The number of commit messages to generate to pick from.

Note, this will use more tokens as it generates more results.


#### timeout

The timeout for network requests to the OpenAI API in milliseconds.

Default: `10000` (10 seconds)

```sh
autoCommit config set timeout=20000 # 20s
```

#### max-length

The maximum character length of the generated commit message.

Default: `50`

```sh
autoCommit config set max-length=100
```

#### model

Default: `deepseek-v3`

The AI model to use for generating commit messages. Supported models:

- `deepseek-v3` - DeepSeek V3 model
- `deepseek-r1` - DeepSeek R1 model  
- `gemini-2.0` - Google Gemini 2.0 model
- `gpt-3.5-turbo` - OpenAI GPT-3.5 Turbo model

```sh
autoCommit config set model=deepseek-v3
```

#### type

Default: `""` (Empty string)

The type of commit message to generate. Set this to "conventional" to generate commit messages that follow the Conventional Commits specification:

```sh
autoCommit config set type=conventional
```

You can clear this option by setting it to an empty string:

```sh
autoCommit config set type=
```

## How it works

This CLI tool runs `git diff` to grab all your latest code changes, sends them to OpenAI's GPT-3, then returns the AI generated commit message.