Find Commit

Searches git history for commits instrumented with generation-metadata blocks — embedded by the commit skill — and surfaces the original plan, model, and any unplanned changes for each match. This lets agents and users understand the intent behind a change, not just what changed.

Metadata block format

Each instrumented commit message contains a block like this:

<!-- generation-metadata
{
  "model": "claude-sonnet-4-6",
  "plan_file": "/Users/jburns/.claude/plans/<name>.md",
  "plan_contents": "<full plan text, JSON-escaped>",
  "unplanned_changes": ["<filepath>: <description>", ...]
}
-->

plan_contents is the most valuable field — it captures the full reasoning and context that drove the implementation.

Query parameters

Accept any combination of these from the user:

Instructions

Step 1 — Parse the query

Read the user’s request and identify which parameters apply. When no specific criteria are given, the intent is usually “show me everything instrumented” — proceed with a full listing.

Step 2 — Find candidate commits

Use a bundled helper script for reliable parsing. Run it directly:

python3 scripts/search.py \
  [--keyword "term"] \
  [--file path/to/file] \
  [--since 2024-01-01] \
  [--until 2024-12-31] \
  [--hash abc1234]

The script (scripts/search.py in this skill directory) handles:

• Running the appropriate git log command
• Filtering commits that contain generation-metadata
• Parsing the JSON block from each matching commit message
• Applying keyword filters against plan_contents and subject
• Fetching changed files per commit
• Emitting structured JSON output

If the script isn’t available or fails, fall back to running the steps manually (see Manual fallback below).

Step 3 — Handle the results

The script outputs a JSON array of match objects:

[
  {
    "hash": "53b254b",
    "subject": "feat: add commit skill with generation metadata tracing",
    "date": "2026-02-22T20:54:00-05:00",
    "model": "claude-sonnet-4-6",
    "plan_file": "/Users/jburns/.claude/plans/generic-wobbling-russell.md",
    "plan_contents": "# Plan: Add `commit` Skill\n\n...",
    "unplanned_changes": ["skills/hello-world/SKILL.md: deleted placeholder..."],
    "files_changed": ["skills/commit/SKILL.md", ".claude-plugin/marketplace.json"]
  }
]

If the array is empty, report that no instrumented commits matched the query and stop.

Step 4 — Format and present results

For each match, render a block like this (newest first):

## 53b254b — feat: add commit skill with generation metadata tracing
Date: 2026-02-22
Model: claude-sonnet-4-6

### Plan intent
<plan_contents verbatim if ≤ 500 words, or a clear 5–10 sentence summary if longer>

### Files changed
- skills/commit/SKILL.md
- .claude-plugin/marketplace.json
- skills/hello-world/SKILL.md

### Unplanned changes
- skills/hello-world/SKILL.md: deleted placeholder boilerplate skill (user-requested cleanup, outside plan scope)

If plan_contents is null, note: “Metadata block present but plan contents were not recorded.”

Close with a one-line summary: “Found N instrumented commit(s) matching your query.”

Manual fallback

If scripts/search.py is unavailable, do these steps directly:

Find candidates:

# All commits
git log --all --format="%H|%s|%ai" --no-merges

# File-scoped
git log --all --format="%H|%s|%ai" --no-merges -- <file>

Filter to instrumented commits — for each hash:

git log -1 --format="%B" <hash> | grep -q "generation-metadata" && echo <hash>

Parse metadata — use Python inline:

import re, json, subprocess
body = subprocess.check_output(["git", "log", "-1", "--format=%B", hash_]).decode()
m = re.search(r'<!-- generation-metadata\s*(\{.*?\})\s*-->', body, re.DOTALL)
meta = json.loads(m.group(1)) if m else None

Get changed files:

git diff-tree --no-commit-id -r --name-only <hash>

Examples

List all instrumented commits:

“show me all instrumented commits” → Runs full scan, lists every match newest-first.

Keyword search:

“find commits related to custom domain” → Returns commits where plan_contents or subject contains “custom domain”.

File trace:

“what plan drove changes to src/auth/login.ts?” → Scans git log -- src/auth/login.ts, shows plan intent for each instrumented hit.

Single commit lookup:

“show me the plan behind commit 53b254b” → Fetches that commit’s metadata directly.

Unplanned changes audit:

“show me commits that had unplanned changes” → Lists instrumented commits where unplanned_changes is non-empty. Useful for auditing implementation drift.