I built a free AI-powered Git CLI that writes your commit messages for you

The article introduces **gritch**, a free, open-source CLI tool built with TypeScript and Node.js that uses Groq's AI API (LLaMA 3.3) to automate Git tasks. It can generate conventional commit messages from staged changes, review code, explain past commits in plain English, and create changelogs between versions. The tool is designed to solve the common developer problem of writing poor commit messages and requires only a free API key from Groq to operate.

We've all been there. You just spent 3 hours fixing a bug, you stage your changes, and then you stare at the commit message input like it owes you money. You end up typing fix stuff and moving on. I got tired of it. So I built gritch. What is gritch? gritch is a free, open source CLI tool that uses Groq's free AI API LLaMA 3.3 to help you write better commits, review your code before pushing, generate changelogs, and understand old commits all from your terminal. What it can do Generate a conventional commit message from your staged changes: git add . gritch commit Review your code before pushing: gritch review gritch review --language javascript Explain any commit in plain English: gritch explain abc1234 Generate a changelog between two versions: gritch changelog v1.0.0 v1.1.0 How to get started Install it globally: npm install -g gritch Get a free API key from https://console.groq.com https://console.groq.com and set it: Windows: $env:GROQ API KEY="your key here" macOS / Linux: export GROQ API KEY="your key here" Then run gritch in any Git project. Why I built it I wanted to build something that developers actually use daily not another todo app or weather dashboard. gritch solves a real problem I had every single day, and I built it entirely with TypeScript and Node.js with zero paid services required. Links If you find it useful, a star on the repo goes a long way.