Commit Prefixes

Commit messages in ModuleForge follow a prefix convention that drives two things automatically: changelog generation via Get-MFGitChangeLog and the choice of semantic version increment at release time.

A well-prefixed commit history produces accurate, zero-effort release notes on every tag - no manual changelog writing required.

Prefix Reference

Prefix Changelog Section Default Changelog Typical Version Impact
feat: New Features Yes Minor
fix: Bug Fixes Yes Patch
docs: Documentation Changes Yes None
refactor: Code Rewrite/Refactor Yes Patch
perf: Performance Improvements Yes Patch
chore: (excluded) No None
test: (excluded) No None

chore and test are excluded from the default changelog output. This keeps release notes focused on user-facing changes. They can be included by passing a custom ChangeLogTypes hashtable to Get-MFGitChangeLog - see Including chore and test below.

Commit Format 

<prefix>: <short description in imperative mood>

The description should complete the sentence “If applied, this commit will…”. Keep it under 72 characters.

Examples

feat: - New function or capability 

feat: add Get-MFDependencyTree to map function call chains
feat: add -IncludeChangeLog switch to Write-MFModuleDocs

Appears under New Features in the changelog. Signals a minor version bump.

fix: - Bug fix 

fix: resolve incorrect version bump when patch increment is selected
fix: handle empty commit history in Get-MFGitChangeLog

Appears under Bug Fixes in the changelog. Signals a patch version bump.

docs: - Documentation only 

docs: update tutorial to use PSResourceGet syntax
docs: add BeforeAll pattern to Pester testing guide

Appears under Documentation Changes in the changelog. No version bump - documentation changes do not trigger a release on their own.

refactor: - Code change with no behaviour change 

refactor: extract version parsing into private function
refactor: simplify dependency resolution logic

Appears under Code Rewrite/Refactor in the changelog. Signals a patch version bump.

perf: - Performance improvement 

perf: cache dependency tree results for large source folders
perf: reduce redundant git calls in Get-MFGitLatestVersion

Appears under Performance Improvements in the changelog. Signals a patch version bump.

chore: - Pipeline, tooling, or housekeeping 

chore: update GitHub Actions runner to ubuntu-24.04
chore: bump required PSScriptAnalyzer version to 1.24.0

Excluded from the default changelog. No version bump.

test: - Adding or updating tests only 

test: add coverage for empty parameter set in New-MFProject
test: fix BeforeAll dependency order for class-dependent functions

Excluded from the default changelog. No version bump.

How Prefixes Connect to the Build Pipeline

At release time, the build pipeline asks for a version increment type (major, minor, patch, or none) and a release type (stable or prerelease). The commit prefix history informs which increment type to select:

  • One or more feat: commits since the last tag → minor
  • Only fix:, refactor:, or perf: commits → patch
  • Only docs:, chore:, or test: commits → none
  • Any breaking change → major (add a BREAKING CHANGE: note in the commit body)

See Commit Strategy and PR Process for how this fits into the full PR workflow.

Including chore and test

To include chore and test in the changelog, pass a custom ChangeLogTypes hashtable:

Get-MFGitChangeLog -ChangeLogTypes @{
    'feat'     = 'New Features'
    'fix'      = 'Bug Fixes'
    'docs'     = 'Documentation Changes'
    'refactor' = 'Code Rewrite/Refactor'
    'perf'     = 'Performance Improvements'
    'chore'    = 'Chore and Pipeline Work'
    'test'     = 'Test Changes'
}

This overrides the default type map entirely, so include all prefixes you want in the output. To use this automatically in the pipeline, update the Get-MFGitChangeLog call in your buildAndRelease.yml.