Open-source quality — non-skippable checks at commit time

The codevira repo is open-source. Every commit ends up in git log that future contributors read to learn the codebase. Bad commits = unreadable history = onboarding pain for everyone who comes after.

When this skill triggers, walk through the checklist below BEFORE calling the Bash tool with git commit. Skip a step → commit is not ready.

Commit message discipline

Conventional Commits format

Every commit message follows: type: short imperative summary

Types:

• feat: — new feature (user-visible)
• fix: — bug fix (user-visible)
• docs: — documentation only
• refactor: — code restructure, no behavior change
• test: — adding or fixing tests
• chore: — build, tooling, deps
• release: — version bump for publishing
• perf: — performance improvement
• style: — formatting / whitespace

Subject line:

• Imperative mood: "add foo" not "added foo"
• < 70 characters
• No trailing period
• Lowercase after the type

Atomic commits

One logical change per commit. Examples:

• ✗ "fix bug and refactor tests and update docs" → 3 commits
• ✓ "fix(indexer): single matcher between configure and index"
• ✓ "test(indexer): regression test for split-config bug"
• ✓ "docs: explain shared file matcher in indexer README"

If your diff spans 3 unrelated concerns, split into 3 commits before pushing. Use git add -p (interactive staging) or commit-by-file.

Body explains WHY

Subject is WHAT. Body is WHY.

fix(indexer): single matcher between configure and index

Previously configure used discover_source_files() but index used a
separate hand-rolled matcher in cmd_incremental. They diverged: docs-
only repos passed configure but failed indexing silently.

The split was a latent bug since v1.6 when discover_source_files
landed. Unifying eliminates the entire class of "discovery vs
indexing" mismatches surfaced as Bug A in the 2026-05-15 audit.

Co-Authored-By: <name>

Code style

Before commit, ALL of these must pass:

make lint          # ruff check mcp_server indexer
make format        # ruff format (no diff after)
make type-check    # mypy mcp_server indexer

If any fails, fix before commit. The .pre-commit-config.yaml hook auto-runs these — bypassing via --no-verify is a discipline breach. Don't.

Public API surface

Every new/changed PUBLIC function or class (no _ prefix) must have:

Full docstring

def my_function(arg1: str, arg2: int = 5) -> dict[str, Any]:
    """One-line summary of what this does.

    Longer explanation if needed. Why this exists, when to use it.

    Args:
        arg1: What this parameter is for.
        arg2: What this parameter is for. Defaults to 5.

    Returns:
        A dict with keys: 'foo' (str), 'bar' (int).

    Raises:
        ValueError: if arg1 is empty.

    Example:
        >>> my_function("hello", 3)
        {'foo': 'hello', 'bar': 3}
    """

Type annotations on signature

Required for every public function. Any is acceptable only with a comment explaining why a more specific type isn't possible.

Public MCP tools

If you add a tool to mcp_server/tools/*.py:

• The tool's docstring is what AI agents see in tools/list. Make

it useful: explain what it returns, when to use it vs alternatives, and what full=true adds (if applicable).

• Tool must follow the codevira convention: summary by default,

full=true for complete data, fix_command on errors.

• Register the tool in mcp_server/server.py AND in

mcp_server/tool_visibility.py if it should appear in the AI-facing list (the 23-tool default surface).

Error messages — actionable

Every new error message must answer 3 questions:

WHAT failed:  "Cannot read config at /path/to/file"
WHY:          "File does not exist"
FIX:          "Run `codevira init` to create it, or check the path."

Combined: "Cannot read config at /path/to/file: file does not exist. Run codevira init to create it."

The fix_command pattern in codevira's MCP tools is exactly this.

Changelog discipline

Every user-visible change adds an entry to CHANGELOG.md under ## [Unreleased]:

## [Unreleased]

### Fixed
- (#123) Configure and index now share a single file matcher.
  Previously docs-only projects produced 0 chunks silently.

### Added
- ...

### Changed
- ...

### Removed
- ...

### Deprecated
- ...

When a release is cut, [Unreleased] is promoted to [X.Y.Z] — YYYY-MM-DD.

Backwards compatibility

Any change to MCP tool signature, CLI flag, or config schema is a potential breaking change. Discipline:

1. Don't remove. Deprecate first.
2. Add a deprecation warning that fires for one full minor version.
3. Document the deprecation in CHANGELOG.md under ### Deprecated.
4. Remove in the NEXT minor version (or major bump).

Example: removing --project-dir flag in favor of --project.

• v2.1: --project is the new spelling; --project-dir still works

but prints a deprecation warning.

• v2.2: --project-dir is removed.

License + dependency hygiene

New dependency in pyproject.toml?

1. Justify it in the commit message body. Why is this dep needed?

Could existing code do it?

1. Verify the license is MIT-compatible (or another approved

permissive license). Run: pip-licenses --packages <new-dep>.

1. Pin a sensible version range (e.g. >=1.0,<2.0).
2. Note it in CHANGELOG.md ### Changed so users see the new

transitive deps coming with their next upgrade.

PR-ready checklist

Before declaring a PR ready for review (or opening one), confirm:

• [ ] Commit message follows Conventional Commits format
• [ ] One logical change per commit
• [ ] make ci passes locally (lint + test-unit + test-e2e)
• [ ] New public APIs have full docstrings + type hints
• [ ] New error messages answer what / why / fix
• [ ] CHANGELOG.md [Unreleased] has an entry
• [ ] No new deps without justification
• [ ] No --no-verify bypasses in commits

Why this exists

Codevira is open-source. The biggest contributors don't exist yet — they'll arrive in 6 months and read git log to figure out how to fix bugs. If every commit looks like "updates" with no body, they'll bounce. If every commit follows the discipline above, they'll land a PR in 2 hours instead of 2 days.

This skill enforces the discipline so the open-source story doesn't depend on the founder remembering to do it manually every time.