Claude Code Git Integration: Automated Version Control

Problem: You made a bunch of changes with Claude Code and now you need to commit them properly without losing track of what happened.

Quick Win: After Claude makes changes, just ask it to commit:

claude "commit these changes with a descriptive message"

Claude reads the diff, writes a meaningful commit message, and runs git commit for you. No fake config commands - just ask.

How Claude Code Actually Works with Git

Claude Code runs git commands directly in your terminal. There's no special "auto-commit" mode or configuration - you simply ask Claude to handle git operations and it does.

What Claude can do:

• Run any git command: add, commit, push, pull, branch, merge
• Write commit messages: Based on the actual changes it made
• Create branches: For features or experiments
• Create PRs: Using the gh CLI if installed
• Resolve conflicts: By reading both versions and merging intelligently

The key insight: Claude sees your git history and understands context, so its commit messages actually describe what changed and why.

Setting Git Conventions in CLAUDE.md

Instead of fake config commands, use your CLAUDE.md file to set commit conventions:

## Git Conventions
 
- Use conventional commits: feat:, fix:, docs:, refactor:
- Keep subject lines under 72 characters
- Always run tests before committing
- Create feature branches for new work

Now when you ask Claude to commit, it follows your team's conventions automatically. Learn more in our CLAUDE.md Mastery guide.

Real Git Workflows

Simple Commit After Changes

# Claude just finished implementing a feature
claude "commit these changes"
 
# Or be more specific
claude "commit with message: add user authentication flow"

Feature Branch Workflow

# Start new work on a branch
claude "create a feature branch called auth-improvements and switch to it"
 
# Make changes, then commit
claude "commit the auth changes with a descriptive message"
 
# When ready, create a PR
claude "push this branch and create a PR with a summary of changes"

Reviewing Before Committing

# See what changed first
claude "show me a summary of all uncommitted changes"
 
# Then commit selectively
claude "commit only the changes in src/auth/ with message: refactor auth module"

Commit Attribution

When Claude Code creates git commits or pull requests, it adds attribution by default. This lets your team (and your future self) know which changes were AI-assisted. The attribution setting in your settings.json controls exactly what gets added.

Default Attribution

Commits get two things appended to the commit message:

Generated with Claude Code (https://claude.com/claude-code)

Co-Authored-By: Claude Sonnet 4.5 <noreply>

The first line is a plain-text message. The second is a git trailer that GitHub and other platforms recognize, showing Claude as a co-author on the commit.

Pull requests get a simpler attribution in the description:

Generated with Claude Code (https://claude.com/claude-code)

Customizing Attribution

Configure commit and PR attribution separately in your settings.json:

{
  "attribution": {
    "commit": "Generated with AI\n\nCo-Authored-By: AI Assistant <your-ai-alias>",
    "pr": "AI-assisted PR"
  }
}

You can change the message text, the Co-Authored-By name and email, or both. The \n\n separates the message from git trailers, which is required by the git trailers format.

Disabling Attribution

Set either value to an empty string to hide it:

{
  "attribution": {
    "commit": "",
    "pr": ""
  }
}

This removes attribution from commits, PRs, or both. Useful for teams that track AI usage through other mechanisms.

Migration from includeCoAuthoredBy

The older includeCoAuthoredBy boolean setting is deprecated. If you were using "includeCoAuthoredBy": false, migrate to the attribution setting:

// Old (deprecated)
{ "includeCoAuthoredBy": false }
 
// New (recommended)
{
  "attribution": {
    "commit": "",
    "pr": ""
  }
}

The new attribution setting gives you finer control since you can disable commit attribution while keeping PR attribution, or vice versa. Place this in your user, project, or local settings depending on your needs.

Troubleshooting Git Issues

Error: "nothing to commit" Fix: Claude already committed, or changes aren't staged. Ask Claude to check:

claude "what's the current git status?"

Error: "permission denied" on push Fix: You need to authenticate with your remote. Claude can't do this for you, but it can help diagnose:

claude "help me debug this git push error"

Error: Merge conflicts Fix: Claude can help resolve them:

claude "there are merge conflicts in auth.js - resolve them keeping our new changes"

Next Steps

• Set up feedback loops for faster iteration
• Configure todo workflows to track work
• Learn planning modes for complex changes
• Customize attribution and other options in the settings reference
• Optimize costs with usage optimization

Git with Claude Code is simple: ask Claude to do git operations, and it does them. No special setup required.