Merge pull request #5393 from camilamacedo86/contributing-commit-messages

📖 (docs): Clarify PR title and commit message format guidelines

Author: k8s-ci-robot

AGENTS.md

@@ -132,23 +132,53 @@ make test              # CI aggregate (all of above + license)
 
 ## PR Submission
 
-### Title Format (MANDATORY)
+### PR Title Format (MANDATORY)
+
+PR titles use **emojis** (appear in release notes).
+
+Format: `:emoji: [(plugin/version)]: Description`
+
+The `(plugin/version)` scope is optional; omit it for repo-wide or documentation-only changes.
+
+**Emojis:**
+- ⚠️ (`:warning:`) - Breaking change
+- ✨ (`:sparkles:`) - New feature
+- 🐛 (`:bug:`) - Bug fix
+- 📖 (`:book:`) - Documentation
+- 🌱 (`:seedling:`) - Infrastructure/tests/refactor
+
+**Examples:**
 ```
-:emoji: (optional/scope): User-facing description
+🐛 Resolve nil pointer panic in scaffold generator
+✨ (helm/v2-alpha): Add cluster-scoped resource support
+📖 (go/v4): Update deployment documentation
+✨ Update dependencies to latest versions
 ```
 
-**Emojis:**
-- ⚠️ - Breaking change
-- ✨ - New feature
-- 🐛 - Bug fix
-- 📖 - Documentation
-- 🌱 - Infrastructure/tests/non-user-facing/refactor
+### Commit Message Format
+
+Commit messages follow the [Conventional Commits](https://www.conventionalcommits.org/) standard.
+
+Format: `<type>[optional scope]: <description>`
+
+The `[optional scope]` is typically the plugin/version (e.g., `helm/v2-alpha`, `go/v4`); omit it for repo-wide or non-plugin changes.
+
+**Types:**
+
+- **feat**: A new feature for the user or a plugin
+- **fix**: A bug fix for the user or a plugin
+- **docs**: Documentation changes only
+- **test**: Adding or updating tests
+- **refactor**: Code change that neither fixes a bug nor adds a feature
+- **chore**: Changes to build process, dependencies, or maintenance tasks
+- **breaking**: A breaking change (can be combined with other types)
 
 **Examples:**
 ```
-✨ (helm/v2-alpha): Add chart generation for cluster-scoped resources
-🐛: Fix project creation failure when GOBIN is unset
-📖: Update migration guide for Go 1.25 compatibility
+fix: Resolve nil pointer panic in scaffold generator
+feat(helm/v2-alpha): Add cluster-scoped resource support
+docs(go/v4): Update deployment documentation
+chore: Update dependencies to latest versions
 ```
 
 ### Pre-PR Checklist

CONTRIBUTING.md

@@ -149,34 +149,53 @@ See:
 
 See [VERSIONING.md](VERSIONING.md) for a full description. TL;DR:
 
-Every PR should be annotated with an icon indicating whether it's
-a:
+### PR Title Format
 
-- Breaking change: :warning: (`:warning:`)
-- Non-breaking feature: :sparkles: (`:sparkles:`)
-- Patch fix: :bug: (`:bug:`)
-- Docs: :book: (`:book:`)
-- Infra/Tests/Other: :seedling: (`:seedling:`)
+PR titles use **emojis** (appear in release notes). Format: `:emoji: (plugin/version): Description`
 
-Use :ghost: (no release note) only for the PRs that change or revert unreleased
-changes, which don't deserve a release note. Please don't abuse it.
+**Emojis:**
+- ⚠️ (`:warning:`) - Breaking change
+- ✨ (`:sparkles:`) - New feature
+- 🐛 (`:bug:`) - Bug fix
+- 📖 (`:book:`) - Documentation
+- 🌱 (`:seedling:`) - Infrastructure/tests/refactor
+- 👻 (`:ghost:`) - No release note (unreleased changes only)
 
-You can also use the equivalent emoji directly, since GitHub doesn't
-render the `:xyz:` aliases in PR titles.
+**Examples:**
+```
+🐛 Resolve nil pointer panic in scaffold generator
+✨ (helm/v2-alpha): Add cluster-scoped resource support
+📖 (go/v4): Update deployment documentation
+✨ Update dependencies to latest versions
+🌱 Add new GitHub action to test out doc samples
+```
+
+### Commit Message Format
+
+Commit messages follow the [Conventional Commits](https://www.conventionalcommits.org/) standard.
 
-If the PR is "plugin" scoped, you may also append the responding plugin names in the prefix.
-[For instance](https://github.com/kubernetes-sigs/kubebuilder/commit/0b36d0c4021bbf52f29d5a990157466761ec180c):
+Format: `<type>[optional scope]: <description>`
 
+The `[optional scope]` is typically the plugin/version (e.g., `helm/v2-alpha`, `go/v4`); omit it for repo-wide or non-plugin changes.
+
+**Types:**
+
+- **feat**: A new feature for the user or a plugin
+- **fix**: A bug fix for the user or a plugin
+- **docs**: Documentation changes only
+- **test**: Adding or updating tests
+- **refactor**: Code change that neither fixes a bug nor adds a feature
+- **chore**: Changes to build process, dependencies, or maintenance tasks
+- **breaking**: A breaking change (can be combined with other types)
+
+**Examples:**
 ```
-🐛 (kustomize/v2-alpha): Fix typo issue in the labels added to the manifests
+fix: Resolve nil pointer panic in scaffold generator
+feat(helm/v2-alpha): Add cluster-scoped resource support
+docs(go/v4): Update deployment documentation
+chore: Update dependencies to latest versions
 ```
 
-Individual commits should not be tagged separately, but will generally be
-assumed to match the PR. For instance, if you have a bugfix in with
-a breaking change, it's generally encouraged to submit the bugfix
-separately, but if you must put them in one PR, mark the commit
-separately.
-
 ## Where the CI Tests are configured
 
 1. See the [action files](.github/workflows) to check its tests, and the scripts used on it.