gitmoji
A guide that maps emojis to commit message types so you can spot a commit's purpose at a glance.
- Stars
- 16.8k
- Forks
- 822
- Licence
- MIT
- Language
- TypeScript
- Last update
- 4 days ago
- Type
- Other
What it is
Gitmoji is a shared list of emojis, each meant to signal the purpose of a change, such as a bug fix or a new feature, when written at the start of a Git commit message. The project publishes the guide on a website and as an npm package so tools can use the emoji list. An interactive command-line client, gitmoji-cli, is linked from the README for picking emojis while committing.
- Start a commit message with an emoji that describes the change, followed by an optional scope and a short message
- Use the gitmoji-cli interactive client to choose an emoji while committing
- Browse the emoji guide on gitmoji.dev to find the right emoji for a change type
- Add the Gitmoji badge to your project README to show you follow the convention
Great for
- Teams that want consistent, scannable commit history
- Developers who already use conventional commit-style messages and want a visual cue
- Projects that want to pull the emoji list into their own tooling via the npm package
Not ideal for
- Teams that require a strict machine-parsed commit format, since the README describes emojis as a convention, not a formal spec
- People who prefer plain-text commit messages without symbols
- Projects that already have a commit style they are happy with and do not want another convention
How to get it
- 1
Install with a package manager
You'll need: Node.js and npm (needed for the gitmoji-cli install command)
Install the gitmoji-cli client globally
npm i -g gitmoji-cli - 2
Run it
- Install gitmoji-cli with the command above
- Browse the emoji list at https://gitmoji.dev to choose an emoji
- Start a commit message with the chosen emoji, then an optional scope and a short message
- 3
Get the most out of it
- Use the commit format from the README: <intention> [scope?][:?] <message>
- Add the Gitmoji badge to your README to signal the convention to contributors
- Read the contributing guidelines if you want to propose a new emoji
Downloads
Strengths
- Simple idea that is easy to learn and explain
- Widely recognized, with over 16,000 GitHub stars at the time of the metadata
- MIT licensed and open to contributions through a documented process
Trade-offs
- The README is short and gives little detail on tooling beyond the linked gitmoji-cli project
- Adoption depends on everyone on a team following the same convention
- It is a style guide rather than a tool, so the benefit depends on how consistently it is used
How it compares
| Project | Stars | Type | Level | Updated | Best for |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| gitmoji (this) | 16.8k | Other | beginner | 4 days ago | Teams that want consistent, scannable commit history |
| commitlint | 18.8k | Dev tool | intermediate | 4 days ago | Teams that already use or want to adopt the conventional commit format |
| emoji-cheat-sheet | 13.8k | Learning resource | beginner | 4 days ago | Developers writing README files or GitHub comments who need an emoji shortcode |
| introduction-to-github | 10.8k | Learning resource | beginner | 5 months ago | People who have never used GitHub before |
Stats synced from GitHub. The assessment above was drafted with AI from the project's README on 2026-10-29 and may miss recent changes — check the README before relying on a command. MIT licence: free to use, modify and distribute, including commercially, as long as you keep the copyright notice.