---
title: Referencing other commits in commit messages
date: 2024-05-20
permalink: daily/2024/05/20/referencing-other-commits-in-commit-messages
tags:
  - software-development
  - git
cta: ~
snippet: |
  Have you tried referencing other commits when writing a commit message?
---

Last week, I asked [whether you should include issue IDs in commit messages][0].

Another thing I like to reference in a commit message is the commit ID (or SHA) of a related commit.

For example, when I run `git log` in my website repository, I see commits like this:

```plain
commit 0c91825c16217d0fe7eff4ea100a67550051c4a9
Author: Oliver Davies <oliver@oliverdavies.dev>
Date:   Sat May 11 15:32:07 2024 +0200

    Create a cached talk counter

    Create a cached version of the talk counter service that returns a
    cached result of the talk count for that day.

    This uses the Decorator design pattern to decorate the existing
    `TalkCounter` service and works as they both implement the same
    `TalkCounterInterface`.
```

The sha for this commit is `0c91825c16217d0fe7eff4ea100a67550051c4a9`.

If I was to make another commit that was related to this one, I can include this commit sha in my new commit message.

I also don't need to include the entire thing - only enough for it to be unique (usually five or six characters).

Once pushed, the commit IDs should never change, so this will be a permanent reference to the first commit.

Helpfully, websites like GitHub, GitLab and Bitbucket will identify it as a commit sha and make it clickable so you can easily navigate to the referenced commit.

[0]: {{site.url}}/daily/2024/05/15/should-you-include-issue-ids-in-your-commit-messages