fix: emit actionable error when --edit cannot find COMMIT_EDITMSG (#589) by escapedcat · Pull Request #4755 · conventional-changelog/commitlint

escapedcat · 2026-05-11T09:55:00Z

Fixes: #589

Catch ENOENT from reading the edit file and throw a message that explains --edit is meant for a commit-msg hook and points at --from / --to or --edit for other use cases. Avoids the raw fs error on fresh checkouts.

Catch ENOENT from reading the edit file and throw a message that explains --edit is meant for a commit-msg hook and points at --from / --to or --edit <file> for other use cases. Avoids the raw fs error on fresh checkouts. Co-Authored-By: Claude Opus 4.7 (1M context) <noreply@anthropic.com>

qodo-code-review · 2026-05-11T09:55:14Z

Review Summary by Qodo

Emit actionable error when --edit cannot find COMMIT_EDITMSG

🐞 Bug fix

Walkthroughs

Description

• Catch ENOENT error when reading COMMIT_EDITMSG file
• Provide actionable error message explaining --edit usage
• Guide users to --from/--to or --edit <file> alternatives
• Add test case for missing COMMIT_EDITMSG scenario

Diagram

flowchart LR
  A["getEditCommit function"] -->|readFile fails| B["Catch ENOENT error"]
  B -->|Check error code| C["Throw helpful error message"]
  C -->|Explain --edit usage| D["Guide to alternatives"]
  D -->|--from/--to or --edit file| E["User gets clear guidance"]

File Changes

1. @commitlint/read/src/get-edit-commit.ts Error handling +14/-1

Add error handling for missing COMMIT_EDITMSG file

• Wrapped fs.readFile() call in try-catch block
• Added ENOENT error handling with descriptive message
• Error message explains --edit is for commit-msg hooks
• Suggests --from/--to or --edit <file> as alternatives

@commitlint/read/src/get-edit-commit.ts

2. @commitlint/read/src/read.test.ts 🧪 Tests +8/-0

Add test for missing COMMIT_EDITMSG error handling

• Added new test case for fresh repository scenario
• Tests that --edit throws actionable error without COMMIT_EDITMSG
• Uses regex pattern to verify error message content
• Validates error mentions commit-msg hook context

@commitlint/read/src/read.test.ts

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qodo-code-review · 2026-05-11T09:55:15Z

Code Review by Qodo

🐞 Bugs (0) 📘 Rule violations (0) 📎 Requirement gaps (1)

1. --edit ENOENT now throws 📎 Requirement gap ≡ Correctness

Description

The new logic throws an Error when .git/COMMIT_EDITMSG is missing, which will cause a non-zero
exit attributable solely to the missing file. The compliance requirement explicitly states this
scenario must not fail the process and should be treated as a pass/no-op on fresh checkouts.

Code

@commitlint/read/src/get-edit-commit.ts[R19-31]

+	let editFile: Buffer;
+	try {
+		editFile = await fs.readFile(editFilePath);
+	} catch (err) {
+		if ((err as NodeJS.ErrnoException).code === "ENOENT") {
+			throw new Error(
+				`No commit message file found at ${editFilePath}.\n` +
+					`--edit reads the message prepared by 'git commit' and is intended to run from a commit-msg hook. ` +
+					`If you want to lint existing history, use --from / --to instead; to lint a specific file, pass its path as --edit <file>.`,
+			);
+		}
+		throw err;
+	}

Evidence
PR Compliance ID 1 requires @commitlint/cli to complete without throwing/failing when
.git/COMMIT_EDITMSG is absent on fresh checkouts. The changed code explicitly throws a new Error
on ENOENT, and the new test asserts that behavior, indicating the process will fail due to missing
COMMIT_EDITMSG.
Handle missing .git/COMMIT_EDITMSG without crashing in @commitlint/cli
@commitlint/read/src/get-edit-commit.ts[19-31]
@commitlint/read/src/read.test.ts[19-25]

Agent prompt

The issue below was found during a code review. Follow the provided context and guidance below and implement a solution

## Issue description
The implementation throws when `--edit` cannot find `COMMIT_EDITMSG` (`ENOENT`). Compliance requires this fresh-checkout scenario to not crash and to not exit non-zero solely due to the missing file (treat as pass/no-op).
## Issue Context
The added test currently enforces throwing an error, which contradicts the compliance success criteria.
## Fix Focus Areas
- @commitlint/read/src/get-edit-commit.ts[19-31]
- @commitlint/read/src/read.test.ts[19-25]

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2. ~~Misleading missing edit message~~ ✓ Resolved 🐞 Bug ≡ Correctness

Description

getEditCommit throws the same commit-msg-hook guidance for any ENOENT when reading the edit file,
even if the user explicitly provided --edit <file> (string). This can mislead users (and callers)
when the real issue is simply a wrong/missing custom path rather than the default COMMIT_EDITMSG
being absent.

Code

@commitlint/read/src/get-edit-commit.ts[R19-31]

+	let editFile: Buffer;
+	try {
+		editFile = await fs.readFile(editFilePath);
+	} catch (err) {
+		if ((err as NodeJS.ErrnoException).code === "ENOENT") {
+			throw new Error(
+				`No commit message file found at ${editFilePath}.\n` +
+					`--edit reads the message prepared by 'git commit' and is intended to run from a commit-msg hook. ` +
+					`If you want to lint existing history, use --from / --to instead; to lint a specific file, pass its path as --edit <file>.`,
+			);
+		}
+		throw err;
+	}

Evidence

getEditFilePath returns a custom resolved file path when edit is a string, but getEditCommit’s
ENOENT handler does not distinguish between edit: true (default COMMIT_EDITMSG) and `edit:
"somefile"` (user-provided path). As a result, the thrown message about being intended for a
commit-msg hook and suggesting --edit  can be incorrect/misleading for the explicit file-path
case.

@commitlint/read/src/get-edit-commit.ts[17-31]
@commitlint/read/src/get-edit-file-path.ts[6-12]

Agent prompt

The issue below was found during a code review. Follow the provided context and guidance below and implement a solution

## Issue description
`getEditCommit()` throws the same ENOENT error message for both:
- default edit mode (`edit === true`) where `.git/COMMIT_EDITMSG` is expected, and
- explicit file mode (`typeof edit === "string"`) where the user passed `--edit <file>`.
This makes the guidance misleading for the explicit file case.
## Issue Context
`getEditFilePath()` resolves a user-provided `edit` string to an arbitrary path, but `getEditCommit()`’s ENOENT handler does not branch on the original `edit` value.
## Fix Focus Areas
- @commitlint/read/src/get-edit-commit.ts[17-31]
- @commitlint/read/src/get-edit-file-path.ts[6-12]
## Suggested change
- In the ENOENT catch:
- If `edit === true` (or boolean/empty-flag case), keep the current commit-msg-hook guidance.
- If `typeof edit === "string"`, throw a message specific to a missing user-provided file (e.g., `Edit file not found at ...; check the path passed to --edit`).
- (Optional, Node 22+) Preserve the original error as `cause` to retain debugging context.
- Add a unit test asserting the explicit-file missing-path message when `read({ edit: "does-not-exist", cwd })` rejects.

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Copilot

Pull request overview

This PR improves the UX of @commitlint/read when edit: true (CLI: --edit) is used in a repository where .git/COMMIT_EDITMSG does not exist (e.g., a fresh checkout with no commits yet), replacing the raw filesystem error with a more actionable message and adding a regression test.

Changes:

Catch ENOENT when reading the edit commit message file and throw an explanatory error message.
Add a test asserting the actionable error is thrown on a freshly initialized repo without COMMIT_EDITMSG.

Reviewed changes

Copilot reviewed 2 out of 2 changed files in this pull request and generated 1 comment.

File	Description
@commitlint/read/src/get-edit-commit.ts	Wraps `fs.readFile` to translate `ENOENT` into a more actionable error message.
@commitlint/read/src/read.test.ts	Adds a regression test for `edit: true` behavior on a fresh repo without `COMMIT_EDITMSG`.

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- Attach the caught ENOENT as `cause` to satisfy preserve-caught-error and aid debugging. - When `--edit <file>` was supplied, point users at the path they passed instead of the commit-msg-hook guidance. Co-Authored-By: Claude Opus 4.7 (1M context) <noreply@anthropic.com>

knocte · 2026-05-14T08:50:29Z

Mmm, looks like code_quality CI is not being run in PRs?

knocte · 2026-05-14T09:02:21Z

Actually, it ran, I'm confused.

The --edit error handling change in #4755 merged with an unformatted multi-line throw expression, breaking the format check on subsequent CI runs. Collapse it to oxfmt's expected single-line form. Co-authored-by: Claude Opus 4.7 (1M context) <noreply@anthropic.com>

escapedcat requested a review from Copilot May 11, 2026 09:55

Copilot started reviewing on behalf of escapedcat May 11, 2026 09:55 View session

Copilot AI reviewed May 11, 2026

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Comment thread @commitlint/read/src/get-edit-commit.ts

qodo-code-review Bot reviewed May 11, 2026

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Comment thread @commitlint/read/src/get-edit-commit.ts

escapedcat merged commit bb10907 into master May 14, 2026
15 checks passed

escapedcat deleted the fix/edit-flag-missing-commit-editmsg branch May 14, 2026 08:31

escapedcat mentioned this pull request May 14, 2026

fix: apply oxfmt formatting to get-edit-commit.ts #4768

Merged

CataldoMazzilli mentioned this pull request Jun 5, 2026

chore(deps): bump @commitlint/cli from 20.5.3 to 21.0.2 zextras/carbonio-files-public-folder-ui#313

Merged

claude Bot mentioned this pull request Jun 6, 2026

build(deps): bump the commitlint group across 1 directory with 3 updates ncaq/git-hooks#142

Merged

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fix: emit actionable error when --edit cannot find COMMIT_EDITMSG (#589)#4755

fix: emit actionable error when --edit cannot find COMMIT_EDITMSG (#589)#4755
escapedcat merged 2 commits into
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fix/edit-flag-missing-commit-editmsg

escapedcat commented May 11, 2026

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qodo-code-review Bot commented May 11, 2026 •

edited

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escapedcat commented May 11, 2026

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Review Summary by Qodo

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qodo-code-review Bot commented May 11, 2026 •

edited

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