lazycommit

lazycommit auto-generates a git commit message from your staged diff using a pluggable LLM provider then commits. No more staring at a blank commit message.

Features

• Pluggable providers: GitHub Copilot, OpenAI-compatible Chat Completions APIs (including local servers like Ollama and LM Studio), or the local apfel on-device model (macOS only) — no network calls required. A provider must be selected explicitly via --provider/a shortcut flag or LAZYCOMMIT_PROVIDER; there is no default.
• Editor review by default: the generated message is pre-populated in $EDITOR before committing, so you can tweak it. Use --no-edit to skip the review step and commit as-is.
• Configurable prompt: override the built-in prompt template via a flag or environment variable.
• Drop-in for git commit: put -- followed by any git commit flags (e.g. --no-verify, --amend, -S) and they're passed straight through.

Installation

With Homebrew (macOS/Linux):

brew install evilmarty/tap/lazycommit

Or with go install:

go install github.com/evilmarty/lazycommit@latest

Or build from source:

git clone https://github.com/evilmarty/lazycommit
cd lazycommit
go build -o lazycommit .

Put the resulting lazycommit binary somewhere on your $PATH.

To embed version, commit, and build date info (shown by lazycommit --version), set them at build time via -ldflags:

go build -ldflags "\
  -X main.Version=$(git describe --tags --always) \
  -X main.Commit=$(git rev-parse HEAD) \
  -X main.BuildDate=$(date -u +%Y-%m-%dT%H:%M:%SZ)" \
  -o lazycommit .

Without this, --version reports dev/none/unknown. Releases built via GoReleaser set these automatically.

Usage

git add ...
lazycommit --copilot

Usage: lazycommit [options] [-- git-commit-flags]

Auto-generates a commit message using an LLM provider, pre-populates
$EDITOR for review, then commits. A provider must be specified via
--provider, a shortcut flag, or LAZYCOMMIT_PROVIDER.

Options:
  -p, --patch          Interactively stage hunks via git add -p before committing
      --provider <p>    Provider to use: copilot, openai, apfel (or use LAZYCOMMIT_PROVIDER)
      --model <m>       Model name to use (provider-specific default if omitted)
      --base-url <url>  Override the API base URL (copilot/openai providers)
      --api-key <key>   API key/OAuth token to use (openai/copilot providers; or use OPENAI_API_KEY)
      --prompt <text>   Override the prompt template (or use LAZYCOMMIT_PROMPT)
      --copilot         Shorthand for --provider copilot
      --apfel           Shorthand for --provider apfel (local Apple model, no network; macOS only)
      --ollama          Shorthand for --provider openai --base-url http://localhost:11434/v1
      --lmstudio        Shorthand for --provider openai --base-url http://localhost:1234/v1
      --no-edit         Skip the $EDITOR review step and commit the message as-is
      --dry-run         Print the generated message without committing
      --list-models     List available models for the resolved provider and exit (copilot/openai only)
      --version         Show version information
      --help            Show this help message

Any arguments after "--" are passed directly to git commit (e.g.
"lazycommit -- --no-verify --amend"). Unrecognized arguments before "--"
are an error.

Prompt template:
  The prompt sent to the LLM provider is a plain-text template that supports
  two placeholders, which are substituted with the staged changes before
  the request is sent:
    {{diff}}   the "git diff --cached" output
    {{stat}}   the "git diff --cached --stat" output

  A sensible default template asking for a Conventional Commits-style
  message is built in. Override it with --prompt "<template>" or by setting
  LAZYCOMMIT_PROMPT (the flag takes precedence over the env var). Both
  accept the full template text, e.g.:

    lazycommit --prompt 'Write a one-line commit message for this diff:
{{diff}}'

  or, for a persistent override:

    export LAZYCOMMIT_PROMPT='Summarise these changes in one sentence:
{{diff}}'

Examples

A provider must be specified — either pass --provider <name>/a shortcut flag on every invocation, or set export LAZYCOMMIT_PROVIDER=copilot (or openai/apfel) once so you don't have to repeat it:

# Use Copilot
lazycommit --copilot

# Stage hunks interactively, then generate and review a message
lazycommit -p --copilot

# Preview the generated message without committing
lazycommit --dry-run --copilot

# Commit immediately, skipping the $EDITOR review step
lazycommit --no-edit --copilot

# Use OpenAI instead of Copilot
lazycommit --provider openai --model gpt-4o --api-key sk-...

# Use the local apfel model (no network calls, macOS only)
lazycommit --provider apfel   # or: lazycommit --apfel

# Use a local Ollama or LM Studio server (OpenAI-compatible, no API key needed)
lazycommit --ollama
lazycommit --lmstudio

# Pass extra flags through to `git commit` after "--"
lazycommit --copilot -- --no-verify --amend

# List the models available for the resolved provider (copilot/openai only)
lazycommit --list-models --copilot
lazycommit --list-models --provider openai --api-key sk-...

# Print the version and exit
lazycommit --version

Providers

copilot

Uses the GitHub Copilot chat completions API, authenticating with the OAuth token written by editor Copilot plugins (copilot.vim / copilot.lua).

• Token is read from $COPILOT_HOSTS_FILE (default ~/.config/github-copilot/hosts.json) or $COPILOT_APPS_FILE (default ~/.config/github-copilot/apps.json).
• --api-key / OPENAI_API_KEY, if set, is used directly as the OAuth token instead, skipping the hosts/apps file lookup entirely.
• --base-url / GITHUB_API_URL overrides the GitHub API root used for the OAuth token exchange (useful for GitHub Enterprise). The chat completions host itself is taken from the token exchange response.
• Supports --list-models to list the models available to your Copilot plan/entitlements.

openai

Uses an OpenAI-compatible Chat Completions API (/chat/completions).

• Requires an API key when using the default OpenAI endpoint, via --api-key or OPENAI_API_KEY (the flag takes precedence). An API key is not required for a custom --base-url (e.g. local servers like Ollama or LM Studio, which typically don't check it).
• --base-url / OPENAI_BASE_URL overrides the API base (default https://api.openai.com/v1), so any OpenAI-compatible endpoint works.
• --model selects the model (default gpt-4o).
• --ollama is shorthand for --provider openai --base-url http://localhost:11434/v1, the default endpoint for a local Ollama install.
• --lmstudio is shorthand for --provider openai --base-url http://localhost:1234/v1, the default endpoint for a local LM Studio install. Use --model to select the model loaded in LM Studio/Ollama.
• Supports --list-models to list the models available at the resolved base URL (useful for discovering what's loaded in Ollama/LM Studio).

apfel (macOS only)

Shells out to the local apfel CLI to run an on-device Apple Intelligence model — no network calls, no API key. Equivalent to --provider apfel or the --apfel shorthand.

Only available on macOS: apfel and its underlying on-device model are Apple-only. lazycommit binaries built for other platforms omit the real provider implementation entirely (via a Go build constraint), so selecting apfel/--apfel on Linux or Windows fails immediately with a clear error instead of trying (and failing) to exec a nonexistent apfel binary.

• Does not support --list-models (it has no concept of a model catalog — it just talks to whatever on-device model apfel provides); using --list-models --apfel/--list-models --provider apfel is an error.

Configuration

Flags always take precedence over environment variables. --provider (or one of --copilot/--apfel/--ollama/--lmstudio) or LAZYCOMMIT_PROVIDER is required — there is no default provider.

Flag	Environment variable	Description
--provider	LAZYCOMMIT_PROVIDER	Provider to use: copilot, openai, or apfel (macOS only) (required)
--model	LAZYCOMMIT_MODEL	Model name (provider-specific default if omitted)
--prompt	LAZYCOMMIT_PROMPT	Prompt template override (see below)
--base-url	GITHUB_API_URL	Base URL override for the copilot provider
--base-url	OPENAI_BASE_URL	Base URL override for the openai provider
--api-key	OPENAI_API_KEY	API key for openai, or OAuth token for copilot (skips hosts/apps file lookup)
—	EDITOR	Editor used to review the generated message
—	COPILOT_HOSTS_FILE	Path to the Copilot OAuth hosts.json file
—	COPILOT_APPS_FILE	Path to the Copilot OAuth apps.json file

Note: If EDITOR is unset or empty, the review step is skipped entirely and the generated message is committed as-is, the same as passing --no-edit. If EDITOR is set but fails to run (e.g. the command doesn't exist), that is still treated as an error and no commit is created.

Custom prompt template

The prompt template supports two placeholders:

• {{stat}} — substituted with git diff --cached --stat
• {{diff}} — substituted with the staged diff (truncated to 300 lines)

Override the built-in template with --prompt or LAZYCOMMIT_PROMPT (the flag takes precedence):

lazycommit --prompt 'Write a one-line commit message for this diff:
{{diff}}'

export LAZYCOMMIT_PROMPT='Write a one-line commit message for this diff:
{{diff}}'
lazycommit

Development

go build -o lazycommit .

Running tests

go test ./...

Checking code coverage

Print per-package coverage summaries:

go test ./... -cover

For a detailed, per-function breakdown, generate a coverage profile and inspect it with go tool cover:

go test ./... -coverprofile=coverage.out -covermode=atomic
go tool cover -func=coverage.out          # per-function coverage in the terminal
go tool cover -html=coverage.out          # open an interactive HTML report in a browser

The overall statement coverage total is shown on the last line of go tool cover -func=coverage.out output. This project targets ≥90% overall statement coverage.

Contributing

Contributions are welcome! To submit a change:

1. Fork the repository and create a topic branch off main.

2. Make your changes, keeping them focused and scoped to a single concern.

3. Format and vet your code:

   gofmt -l .
   go vet ./...

4. Add or update tests for any behavior you change, and make sure the suite passes with coverage still at or above 90%:

   go test ./... -cover

5. Update the README or other docs if you change user-facing behavior (flags, environment variables, providers, etc.).

6. Commit with a clear, descriptive message and open a pull request describing the change and why it's needed.

Please keep pull requests small and focused — it makes them easier to review. If you're planning a larger change (e.g. a new provider), consider opening an issue first to discuss the approach.