3.4Commit Message Best Practices

Good commit messages make history searchable and bisect results meaningful.

Format

type(scope): short description

Longer description if needed. Explain why, not what.
The code diff shows what changed; the message should explain why.

Refs: #234

Types for QA Work

Type	When to Use	Example
test	Adding or modifying tests	test(checkout): add payment timeout retry tests
fix	Fixing a broken test	fix(login): stabilize login test by awaiting API response
refactor	Restructuring test code without changing behavior	refactor(page-objects): extract shared navigation helper
ci	Pipeline configuration changes	ci: add Playwright browser caching to reduce pipeline time
chore	Maintenance tasks	chore: update Playwright to v1.42
docs	Documentation changes	docs: add test data setup instructions to README

Bad vs Good Commit Messages

# Bad
fix tests
update
WIP
changes
asdfasdf

# Good
fix(checkout): stabilize payment test by increasing API timeout to 30s
test(login): add 2FA verification tests for SMS and authenticator app
ci: split browser tests into 4 shards to reduce pipeline from 20m to 6m
refactor(page-objects): extract checkout form into reusable component