Commit Filtering

What is Commit Filtering?

Commit filtering is LazyPR's intelligent feature that automatically excludes noise from your PR descriptions. It analyzes commit messages and patterns to focus on meaningful changes.

What Gets Filtered?

By default, LazyPR excludes:

Merge Commits

Merge branch 'main' into feature-branch
Merge pull request #123 from user/branch

Merge commits add no meaningful information about your changes.

Dependency Updates

chore: update dependencies
chore: bump package.json versions
build: upgrade eslint to 8.0.0

Version bumps and dependency updates clutter PR descriptions without adding context about your work.

Formatting Changes

style: fix linting errors
style: run prettier
chore: format code

Code formatting and style fixes don't represent functional changes.

Build and CI Changes

ci: update GitHub Actions workflow
build: modify webpack config

Infrastructure changes are often less important than feature work.

Why Filter?

Cleaner Descriptions: Focus on what matters - your actual feature work and bug fixes.

Better AI Output: Filtering helps the AI generate more focused, relevant descriptions.

Reduced Token Usage: Fewer commits mean fewer tokens consumed and faster generation.

Professional PRs: Your PRs highlight important changes, not noise.

Disabling Filtering

Sometimes you want to include all commits:

Per-Run Disable

Use the --no-filter flag:

lazypr main --no-filter

This includes all commits for this single run.

Global Disable

Turn off filtering permanently:

lazypr config set FILTER_COMMITS=false

Re-enable anytime:

lazypr config set FILTER_COMMITS=true

When to Disable Filtering

Consider disabling filtering when:

Dependency update PRs: If the PR is specifically about dependency updates:

lazypr main --no-filter

Infrastructure changes: When build/CI modifications are the main focus.

Small refactors: When formatting or style changes are the primary work.

Debugging: To see exactly which commits are being analyzed.

How Filtering Works

LazyPR uses pattern matching on commit messages to identify filtered commits. It looks for:

1. Keywords: merge, dependency, deps, bump, format, prettier, eslint, ci, build
2. Patterns: Version numbers, package names, automated commit signatures
3. Conventional commits: Specific types like chore:, style:, build:, ci:

Example: Filtered vs Unfiltered

Commits in branch:

feat: add user authentication
fix: resolve login redirect bug
chore: update dependencies
Merge branch 'main' into feature
style: format auth module
test: add auth integration tests

With filtering (default):

LazyPR analyzes:
- feat: add user authentication
- fix: resolve login redirect bug
- test: add auth integration tests

Without filtering (--no-filter):

LazyPR analyzes all 6 commits including:
- chore: update dependencies
- Merge branch 'main' into feature
- style: format auth module

Smart Filtering

LazyPR's filtering is smart enough to:

• Preserve important chore commits that add significant value
• Include dependency updates if they fix security issues
• Keep formatting commits if they're part of a larger refactor

The AI considers context, not just keywords.

Custom Filtering Logic

Currently, LazyPR doesn't support custom filtering rules. The built-in logic covers most common cases. If you need specific commits excluded, consider:

1. Using --no-filter and manually editing the output
2. Structuring commit messages to match filtering patterns
3. Creating separate branches for filtered vs. important commits

Best Practices

Write Clear Commit Messages

Use conventional commits to help filtering work effectively:

# Will be included
feat: add login feature
fix: resolve security bug

# Will be filtered
chore: update packages
style: run formatter

Separate Concerns

Keep infrastructure and feature work in separate branches when possible:

# Feature branch - filtering works great
git checkout -b feature/auth
[make feature commits]

# Separate dependency update branch
git checkout -b chore/deps
[update dependencies]

Review Before Submitting

Always review the generated PR description. If important commits were filtered, regenerate with --no-filter and manually edit.