gitcai - AI Git Commit Message Generator CLI

Generate Conventional Commit messages from your Git diff using Ollama or Gemini, then commit from your terminal.

gitcai is an AI Git commit message generator CLI. It reads your staged Git diff, asks Ollama or Gemini to write a clear Conventional Commit message, lets you edit the result, and runs git commit.

Quick Start

npm install -g gitcai
gitcai

What It Does

• Generates commit messages from your Git changes
• Creates Conventional Commit messages from staged diffs
• Supports ollama and gemini
• Runs a first-time setup when you use it for the first time
• Lets you edit the generated commit message before committing
• Auto-stages files when nothing is staged
• Can push after commit with --push
• Stores user config outside your repository
• Automatically excludes lockfiles from the diff sent to AI to save tokens and improve message quality

Requirements

• Node.js 20 or newer
• Git
• One AI provider:
  • Ollama local or remote server
  • Gemini API key

Install

From npm

npm install -g gitcai

Then run:

gitcai

From Yarn

yarn global add gitcai

Then run:

gitcai

From This Repository

git clone https://github.com/VanChung369/gitcai.git
cd gitcai
yarn install
yarn build
yarn link

Now the gitcai command is available globally on your machine.

First-Time Setup

The first time you run:

gitcai

the tool asks for only the required setup:

• AI provider: ollama or gemini
• Commit message language: English or Vietnamese
• Provider-specific values:
  • Ollama: base URL and model
  • Gemini: API key and model

You can also run setup manually:

gitcai config setup

Basic Usage

Go to any Git repository:

cd path/to/your/repo

Run:

gitcai

The tool will:

1. Read staged changes
2. Auto-stage files if nothing is staged
3. Generate a commit message
4. Let you edit the message
5. Ask for confirmation
6. Run git commit

Commit and push:

gitcai --push

Skip editing:

gitcai --no-edit

Skip confirmation:

gitcai --yes

Skip both editing and confirmation:

gitcai --no-edit --yes

Do not auto-stage files:

gitcai --no-stage

Ollama Setup

Local Ollama:

gitcai config set provider ollama
gitcai config set ollamaUrl http://localhost:11434
gitcai config set model qwen2.5:1.5b

Remote Ollama:

gitcai config set provider ollama
gitcai config set ollamaUrl https://ai.example.com
gitcai config set model qwen2.5:1.5b

Use without saving config:

gitcai --provider ollama --ollama-url http://localhost:11434 --model qwen2.5:1.5b

Gemini Setup

Save Gemini config:

gitcai config set provider gemini
gitcai config set model gemini-2.5-flash
gitcai config set geminiApiKey YOUR_API_KEY

Use an environment variable instead:

set GEMINI_API_KEY=YOUR_API_KEY
gitcai --provider gemini

On macOS or Linux:

export GEMINI_API_KEY=YOUR_API_KEY
gitcai --provider gemini

Use without saving config:

gitcai --provider gemini --gemini-api-key YOUR_API_KEY --model gemini-1.5-flash

Config Commands

Run setup again:

gitcai config setup

Show all config:

gitcai config list

Get one value:

gitcai config get provider

Set one value:

gitcai config set language vi

Reset config:

gitcai config reset

Show config file path:

gitcai config path

Config is stored in a user-level JSON file using conf. It is not committed to your project.

Useful Options

gitcai --provider ollama
gitcai --provider gemini
gitcai --language en
gitcai --language vi
gitcai --max-length 72
gitcai --max-diff-chars 10000
gitcai --temperature 0.2

Ollama-specific:

gitcai --num-predict 40

Gemini-specific:

gitcai --max-output-tokens 1280

Troubleshooting

Current directory is not a Git repository

Run the command inside a Git repository:

cd path/to/your/repo
gitcai

Ollama Request Timeout

If your Ollama server is slow or behind a proxy, reduce the diff size:

gitcai --max-diff-chars 2000 --num-predict 30

Gemini API Key Missing

Set the key:

gitcai config set geminiApiKey YOUR_API_KEY

or:

set GEMINI_API_KEY=YOUR_API_KEY

Development

yarn install
yarn dev -- --help
yarn dev -- config setup
yarn build

Run the built CLI:

node dist/cli.js --help

Link locally:

yarn build
yarn link
gitcai --help

Unlink:

yarn unlink

Security Notes

gitcai sends your staged diff to the configured AI provider. Do not use a remote provider for changes that contain secrets, credentials, private keys, or sensitive code.