Recover failed Git commit message

When you are using Git commit validation (a.k.a. commit linting) and it fails, it is frustrating to re-type your message. Git stores the commit message that failed validation in .git/COMMIT_EDITMSG. You can use this stored message to start your new commit message with

git commit -e --file=$(git rev-parse --git-dir)/COMMIT_EDITMSG

On a recent project, they had husky commit linting with some aggressive rules. It was maddening when my commit failed and I had to re-type it. This command saved me a lot of time.

How it Works

–file tells Git what file to use for the commit message

-e tells Git to load the commit message in the editor (instead of using the message without editing)

$(git rev-parse --git-dir) returns the path to the local Git directory (if you’re in the root of the project, this will be .git)

Skipping the Commit Validation

As an alternative, depending on the project, you can skip the commit validation by adding the –no-verify parameter.

e.g.

git commit --no-verify

How Git Commit Validation Works

Git supports a number of hooks that are run at certain times. Specifically, if you add an executable file at .git/hooks/commit-msg it will run whenever you save a commit message. If this executable file exits with an error code, the commit will fail.

e.g.

#!/bin/sh

# Fail commit message validation every time.
echo 'Commit message validation failed'
exit 1

While writing this post, I created the above file at .git/hooks/commit-msg and made it executable with

chmod 744 .git/hooks/commit-msg

This caused my commit validation to fail every time. Deleting .git/hooks/commit-msg removes this failing validation.

Adding an alias

You can add a Git alias for this command by running the following from the command line.

git config --global alias.recover-rejected-commit '!f() { git commit -e --file=$(git rev-parse --git-dir)/COMMIT_EDITMSG; }; f'

After this, you can run

git recover-rejected-commit

to start your commit message with the contents of the previously failed commit message.

Image Credit

Brady Rogers on unsplash

Sal Ferrarello (@salcode)

Sal is a PHP developer with a focus on the WordPress platform. He is a conference speaker with a background including Piano Player, Radio DJ, Magician/Juggler, Beach Photographer, and High School Math Teacher. Sal can be found professionally at WebDevStudios, where he works as a senior backend engineer.