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Commit message templates (FREE)

GitLab uses commit templates to create default messages for specific types of commits. These templates encourage commit messages to follow a particular format, or contain specific information. Users can override these templates when merging a merge request.

Commit templates use syntax similar to the syntax for review suggestions.

Configure commit templates

Change the commit templates for your project if the default templates don't contain the information you need.

Prerequisite:

  • You must have at least the Maintainer role for a project.

To do this:

  1. On the top bar, select Menu > Projects and find your project.
  2. On the left sidebar, select Settings > General and expand Merge requests.
  3. Depending on the type of template you want to create, scroll to either Merge commit message template or Squash commit message template.
  4. For your desired commit type, enter your default message. You can use both static text and variables. Each template is limited to a maximum of 500 characters, though after replacing the templates with data, the final message may be longer.
  5. Select Save changes.

Default template for merge commits

The default template for merge commit messages is:

Merge branch '%{source_branch}' into '%{target_branch}'

%{title}

%{issues}

See merge request %{reference}

Default template for squash commits

If you have configured your project to squash commits on merge, GitLab creates a squash commit message with this template:

%{title}

Supported variables in commit templates

  • Introduced in GitLab 14.5.
  • Added first_commit and first_multiline_commit variables in GitLab 14.6.

Commit message templates support these variables:

Variable Description Output example
%{source_branch} The name of the branch being merged. my-feature-branch
%{target_branch} The name of the branch that the changes are applied to. main
%{title} Title of the merge request. Fix tests and translations
%{issues} String with phrase Closes <issue numbers>. Contains all issues mentioned in the merge request description that match issue closing patterns. Empty if no issues are mentioned. Closes #465, #190 and #400
%{description} Description of the merge request. Merge request description.
Can be multiline.
%{reference} Reference to the merge request. group-name/project-name!72359
%{first_commit} Full message of the first commit in merge request diff. Update README.md
%{first_multiline_commit} Full message of the first commit that's not a merge commit and has more than one line in message body. Merge Request title if all commits aren't multiline. Update README.md

Improved project description in readme file.

Empty variables that are the only word in a line are removed, along with all newline characters preceding it.

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