Git Commit Messages We All Wrote at 3 AM

A museum exhibit that opens nightly at 03:00: “why did I do this?”

1. Bad Commit Message: WIP (don’t look)

2. fix — The most honest lie in software: “fix”. Fix what? Yes.

3. final_final_really_this_time — If your commit message contains “final”, it is scientifically guaranteed not to be.

4. speling — Nothing screams confidence like fixing spelling while misspelling the commit message.

5. oops — “Oops” is either a one-line mistake… or a full rewrite. No in-between.

6. pls — A prayer disguised as version control.

7. Funny Commit Message: hotfix (production is on fire)

8. temporarily disable security (TEMP) — “TEMP” means ‘someone will find this in six months’.

9. revert: revert: revert — Reverting is fine. Reverting the revert of the revert is a lifestyle.

10. it works on my machine — The CI pipeline disagrees. Loudly.

Bonus: Commit Message Checklist (3 AM survival)

• If you typed final twice, stop and make a real message.
• Squash before you push (future-you deserves peace).
• If it’s a hotfix, add context: what broke + why this fixes it.
• Never commit “TEMP disable auth” unless you also commit the re-enable in the same session.
• When in doubt: write what changed + why (even one sentence helps).