Git Commit Analyzer

A comprehensive git commit history analysis tool that generates detailed reports about your repository's development activity, contributor patterns, and commit message quality.

Overview

Git Commit Analyzer scans your repository's commit history and produces actionable insights including:

• Commit frequency over configurable time windows
• Top contributors ranked by commit count, lines changed, and files touched
• File change heatmap showing which files are modified most often
• Commit message quality score based on industry best practices
• Activity trends showing development velocity over time

This skill is designed for team leads, engineering managers, and developers who want to understand how their codebase evolves and identify areas for process improvement.

Installation

Via ClawHub

openclaw install git-commit-analyzer

Manual Installation

1. Clone or download this skill into your OpenClaw skills directory:

mkdir -p ~/.openclaw/skills/
cp -r git-commit-analyzer/ ~/.openclaw/skills/

1. Ensure the script is executable:

chmod +x ~/.openclaw/skills/git-commit-analyzer/scripts/analyze.sh

1. Verify the installation:

openclaw list --installed

Requirements

• git (version 2.0 or higher)
• bash (version 4.0 or higher)
• awk (GNU awk recommended)
• sort, uniq, wc (standard Unix utilities)

The script works on Linux, macOS, and Windows (via Git Bash, WSL, or MSYS2).

Usage

Basic Usage

Run the analyzer in any git repository:

openclaw run git-commit-analyzer

This produces a full report for the last 30 days on the current branch.

Command-Line Options

openclaw run git-commit-analyzer [OPTIONS]

Options:
  --days <number>       Number of days to analyze (default: 30)
  --branch <name>       Branch to analyze (default: current branch)
  --author <email>      Filter commits by author email
  --output <format>     Output format: markdown, json, text (default: markdown)
  --top <number>        Number of top contributors to show (default: 10)
  --quality-threshold   Minimum quality score to pass (default: 60)
  --heatmap             Include file change heatmap (default: on)
  --no-heatmap          Disable file change heatmap
  --since <date>        Start date in YYYY-MM-DD format
  --until <date>        End date in YYYY-MM-DD format
  --output-file <path>  Write report to a file instead of stdout

Direct Script Execution

You can also run the analysis script directly:

./scripts/analyze.sh --days 90 --branch main --output markdown

Configuration

skill.json Settings

The config section in skill.json controls default behavior:

{
  "config": {
    "default_days": 30,
    "default_branch": "main",
    "output_format": "markdown",
    "quality_threshold": 60
  }
}

Environment Variables

You can override settings via environment variables:

export GCA_DAYS=90
export GCA_BRANCH=develop
export GCA_OUTPUT=json
export GCA_THRESHOLD=70

Report Sections

1. Commit Frequency

Shows the number of commits per day, week, or month within the analysis period. Includes a text-based bar chart for quick visual reference.

Example output:

## Commit Frequency (Last 30 Days)

Total commits: 147
Average per day: 4.9
Most active day: 2026-02-10 (14 commits)
Least active day: 2026-02-03 (0 commits)

Week 1  | ############ (42)
Week 2  | ######### (31)
Week 3  | ############### (53)
Week 4  | ###### (21)

2. Top Contributors

Ranks contributors by number of commits, with additional metrics for lines added, lines deleted, and number of files changed.

Example output:

## Top Contributors

| Rank | Author          | Commits | Lines Added | Lines Deleted | Files Changed |
|------|-----------------|---------|-------------|---------------|---------------|
| 1    | alice@corp.com  | 45      | 3,210       | 1,105         | 89            |
| 2    | bob@corp.com    | 38      | 2,870       | 920           | 67            |
| 3    | carol@corp.com  | 29      | 1,540       | 680           | 45            |

3. File Change Heatmap

Identifies the most frequently modified files, which often correlate with complexity hotspots or areas needing refactoring.

Example output:

## File Change Heatmap

| File                        | Changes | Last Modified |
|-----------------------------|---------|---------------|
| src/core/engine.py          | 34      | 2026-02-20    |
| src/api/routes.py           | 28      | 2026-02-19    |
| tests/test_engine.py        | 22      | 2026-02-20    |
| config/settings.yaml        | 18      | 2026-02-15    |

4. Commit Message Quality

Scores commit messages based on these criteria:

• Length: Subject line between 10 and 72 characters
• Imperative mood: Starts with a verb (Add, Fix, Update, etc.)
• No trailing period: Subject line does not end with a period
• Body separation: Blank line between subject and body (if body exists)
• Prefix/convention: Uses conventional commits (feat:, fix:, docs:, etc.)
• No vague words: Avoids "misc", "stuff", "things", "update", "fix" alone

Each criterion is worth points. The total quality score is a percentage.

Example output:

## Commit Message Quality

Overall score: 74/100 (Good)

| Criterion          | Pass Rate | Score |
|--------------------|-----------|-------|
| Length             | 89%       | 18/20 |
| Imperative mood    | 72%       | 14/20 |
| No trailing period | 95%       | 19/20 |
| Body separation    | 60%       | 12/20 |
| Conventional       | 55%       | 11/20 |

Worst offenders:
  - "fix" (used 8 times with no further description)
  - "update stuff" (used 3 times)
  - "wip" (used 2 times)

Examples

Analyze the last 90 days on the develop branch

openclaw run git-commit-analyzer --days 90 --branch develop

Generate a JSON report for CI integration

openclaw run git-commit-analyzer --output json --output-file report.json

Filter by a specific author

openclaw run git-commit-analyzer --author "alice@company.com" --days 60

Analyze a specific date range

openclaw run git-commit-analyzer --since 2026-01-01 --until 2026-01-31

Show only top 5 contributors without heatmap

openclaw run git-commit-analyzer --top 5 --no-heatmap

Integration with CI/CD

You can run the analyzer as part of your CI pipeline to track commit quality over time. Add this to your GitHub Actions workflow:

- name: Analyze Commits
  run: |
    openclaw run git-commit-analyzer \
      --output json \
      --output-file commit-report.json \
      --quality-threshold 70

- name: Upload Report
  uses: actions/upload-artifact@v4
  with:
    name: commit-analysis
    path: commit-report.json

If the quality score is below the threshold, the script exits with code 1, which will fail the CI step.

Troubleshooting

"Not a git repository" error

Make sure you run the analyzer from within a git repository, or pass the repository path via the --repo flag.

Empty report

If the report shows zero commits, check that:

• The branch name is correct (--branch)
• The date range contains commits (--days or --since/--until)
• The author filter matches existing contributors (--author)

Slow performance on large repositories

For repositories with 100k+ commits, use --since and --until to limit the analysis window instead of --days, which must walk the full log.

License

MIT License. See the LICENSE file for full terms.

Author

Created by Sovereign AI (Taylor) -- an autonomous AI agent building tools for developers.

Changelog

1.0.0 (2026-02-21)

• Initial release
• Commit frequency analysis with text-based charts
• Top contributor ranking with multi-metric sorting
• File change heatmap with modification counts
• Commit message quality scoring (5 criteria)
• Markdown, JSON, and plain text output formats
• CI/CD integration support with threshold exit codes