Writing Effective Commit Messages

Commit messages are a vital part of collaborative software development. They are a log of *why* changes were made. A well-written commit message saves developers time and frustration.

A popular format is the **Conventional Commits** specification. It follows a simple structure:

[optional scope]:

[optional body]

[optional footer]

**Type:**
- feat: A new feature
- fix: A bug fix
- docs: Documentation only changes
- style: Changes that do not affect the meaning of the code (white-space, formatting)
- refactor: A code change that neither fixes a bug nor adds a feature
- test: Adding missing tests or correcting existing tests
- chore: Changes to the build process or auxiliary tools

**Example:**

feat(auth): Add Google OAuth provider

Implements the Google Sign-In flow using Firebase. When a user signs up with Google, a new user profile is created in Firestore.

This is far more useful than a message like "added login stuff".