git-commit-helper by tarekbadrsh - MCP Server

Git Commit Helper

An MCP (Model Context Protocol) server that helps Claude write professional commit messages by reading git repository information. Built with the official Anthropic Rust SDK for maximum performance and reliability.

🌟 Features

✨ Standalone Binary - No Node, Python, Bun, or any runtime dependencies required
⚡ Lightning Fast - Starts in under 1 millisecond
🔒 Privacy First - Runs entirely on your local machine
🌍 Cross-Platform - Works on Linux, macOS (Intel & ARM), and Windows
🎯 Smart Commit Messages - Claude analyzes your changes and suggests clear, conventional commits
📦 Tiny Size - Just ~3MB binary
🛠️ Official SDK - Built with Anthropic's official Rust MCP SDK for reliability

💡 Use Cases

This tool is perfect for:

Solo Developers who want consistent, professional commit messages
Teams maintaining commit message standards across projects
Open Source Contributors writing clear commits for community projects
Code Reviewers who need to quickly understand what changed
Git Learners who want to see examples of good commit messages

🎬 Demo

Here's how it works in practice:

You: I've made some changes and staged them. Can you write me a commit message?

Claude: Let me check what you've staged.
[Uses git_diff_staged tool]

I can see you've added user authentication with JWT tokens and password hashing. 
Here's a suggested commit message:

feat(auth): implement JWT-based user authentication

- Add JWT token generation and verification
- Implement bcrypt password hashing for security
- Create login and registration endpoints
- Add middleware for protected routes

This follows conventional commit format. Want me to adjust anything?

🚀 Setup Instructions

Prerequisites

You need Rust installed. If you don't have it:

curl --proto '=https' --tlsv1.2 -sSf https://sh.rustup.rs | sh

Visit rustup.rs for more installation options.

Build from Source

Clone and build:

git clone https://github.com/tarekbadrsh/git-commit-helper.git
cd git-commit-helper
cargo build --release

Find your binary:

# The binary will be at:
# target/release/git-commit-helper

Optional - Install globally:

# Copy to a directory in your PATH
sudo cp target/release/git-commit-helper /usr/local/bin/
# Or on Windows:
copy target\release\git-commit-helper.exe C:\Windows\System32\

Configure Claude Desktop

You need to tell Claude Desktop where to find the binary.

📁 Config File Locations:

macOS: ~/Library/Application Support/Claude/claude_desktop_config.json
Windows: %APPDATA%\Claude\claude_desktop_config.json
Linux: ~/.config/Claude/claude_desktop_config.json

Edit the config file and add:

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "git-commit-helper": {
      "command": "/absolute/path/to/git-commit-helper"
    }
  }
}

⚠️ Important: Use the absolute path to your binary!

Platform-specific examples:

macOS/Linux:

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "git-commit-helper": {
      "command": "/Users/yourname/git-commit-helper/target/release/git-commit-helper"
    }
  }
}

Windows:

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "git-commit-helper": {
      "command": "C:\\Users\\YourName\\git-commit-helper\\target\\release\\git-commit-helper.exe"
    }
  }
}

💡 Tip: To get the absolute path:

# macOS/Linux:
cd git-commit-helper
echo "$(pwd)/target/release/git-commit-helper"

# Windows PowerShell:
cd git-commit-helper
echo "$pwd\target\release\git-commit-helper.exe"

Restart Claude Desktop

Completely quit and restart Claude Desktop (not just close the window - use Cmd+Q on macOS or fully exit on Windows/Linux).

📝 Usage Examples

Try these natural language queries with Claude:

Generate Commit Messages

"I have staged changes, write me a commit message"
"Review my changes and suggest a conventional commit message"
"Help me write a commit message for these changes"

Review Changes

"Show me what I'm about to commit"
"What files have I modified?"
"Show me all my changes in this repository"

Understand Context

"Show me the last 10 commits"
"What's the commit message style in this project?"
"Show me recent commits so I can match the style"

Combined Workflows

"Look at my staged changes and recent commits, then write a commit message that matches our style"
"Show me what I've changed and help me decide what to commit first"

🛠️ Available Tools

The server provides four tools that Claude can use:

1. `git_status`

Shows the current state of the repository - modified, staged, and untracked files.

Parameters:

repo_path (optional): Path to git repository

Example: "Show me what files I've changed"

2. `git_diff_staged`

Shows line-by-line changes for files staged with git add. This is what will be committed.

Parameters:

repo_path (optional): Path to git repository

Example: "Show me what I'm about to commit"

3. `git_diff_all`

Shows all changes in the repository, both staged and unstaged. Can optionally include untracked files.

Parameters:

repo_path (optional): Path to git repository
include_untracked (optional, default: false): Include untracked files

Example: "Show me all my changes including untracked files"

4. `git_log`

Shows recent commit history to understand commit message conventions.

Parameters:

repo_path (optional): Path to git repository
limit (optional, default: 10, max: 50): Number of commits to show

Example: "Show me the last 5 commits"

🔧 Troubleshooting

macOS: "cannot be opened because the developer cannot be verified"

macOS Gatekeeper may block the binary. To fix:

xattr -d com.apple.quarantine /path/to/git-commit-helper

Linux: "Permission denied"

Make the binary executable:

chmod +x /path/to/git-commit-helper

"Not a git repository" Error

Make sure you're running commands in a directory that has been initialized with git init or is a cloned repository.

Claude Desktop Not Finding the Server

Check that the config file path is correct for your OS
Verify you're using an absolute path to the binary (not relative like ./git-commit-helper)
Make sure you completely restarted Claude Desktop (not just closed the window)
Check Claude Desktop logs for errors (usually in same folder as config)

Windows: "git is not recognized"

Make sure git is installed and in your PATH:

# Test git installation
git --version

If not installed, download from git-scm.com

🏗️ Cross-Compilation

Build for all platforms at once:

./build.sh --all

This creates binaries for:

Linux x86_64: target/x86_64-unknown-linux-gnu/release/git-commit-helper
macOS Intel: target/x86_64-apple-darwin/release/git-commit-helper
macOS ARM: target/aarch64-apple-darwin/release/git-commit-helper
Windows: target/x86_64-pc-windows-gnu/release/git-commit-helper.exe

Manual cross-compilation:

# Add target (one-time setup)
rustup target add x86_64-unknown-linux-gnu

# Build for that target
cargo build --release --target x86_64-unknown-linux-gnu

Available targets:

x86_64-unknown-linux-gnu - Linux x86_64
x86_64-apple-darwin - macOS Intel
aarch64-apple-darwin - macOS Apple Silicon
x86_64-pc-windows-gnu - Windows x86_64

🤔 Why Rust?

Single Binary Distribution
No npm, pip, or runtime installation needed. Users just download and run.

Instant Startup
Under 1ms startup time vs 100-500ms for Node.js/Python.

Small Size
~3MB vs 30-50MB for Node.js-based solutions.

Type Safety
Compile-time guarantees prevent runtime errors.

Official SDK
Built with Anthropic's official Rust MCP SDK for long-term reliability.

📖 Documentation

- 3-minute setup guide
- How to create GitHub releases
- How to submit to MCP stores
- Version history

🤝 Contributing

Contributions are welcome! This is a simple, focused tool - please keep it that way:

Fork the repository
Create a feature branch
Make your changes
Test thoroughly
Submit a pull request

📄 License

MIT License - see file for details.

🙏 Acknowledgments

Built with the official Anthropic Rust MCP SDK
Inspired by the Model Context Protocol
Thanks to the Rust community for excellent tooling

🔗 Links

Made with ❤️ using Rust and the official Anthropic MCP SDK

tarekbadrsh/git-commit-helper