Write Git Commit Messages with Your Favorite Editor

I hate it when I want to add a long message to a git commit and git launches nano. I just never picked it up. Avoided even having to think about it, really.

I also never pondered that I could change the default editor for commit messages. That is, until I realized my AI Terminal Assistant, Warp is not just helpful but really really wise (and patient) and the hardcore command line skills that most wanna be app developers, me included, never bother to become hyperfluent in.

bash

which nvim
/opt/homebrew/bin/nvim

bash

git commit
git rebase -i HEAD~3
git config --global --edit

Now, command's I am confident with: neovim will open instead of nano. You can edit your message, and then: • To save and exit: :wq • To exit without saving: :q! • To just save: :w

Assuring multi-line cursors in Git Commits.

This is helpful because the default commit template is commented out. Part of it is the list of files that changed.

If you don't have vim-plug already (and are wanting to use Neovim) then

bash

curl -fLo "${XDG_DATA_HOME:-$HOME/.local/share}"/nvim/site/autoload/plug.vim --create-dirs \
    https://raw.githubusercontent.com/junegunn/vim-plug/master/plug.vim

So, install a plugin that provides a multi-line cursor. From ~/.config there should be an nvim/init.lua file.

lua

use 'mg979/vim-visual-multi'

Just attach a file to as Git Commit by passing the path as an argument

bash

git commit -F path/to/your/message.txt

# if you want to review or edit it before it goes out:
git commit -e -F path/to/your/message.txt

# alternately, use the pipe constructor
echo "Your commit message" | git commit -F -