CLI

❯ npx commitlint --help

@commitlint/cli@21.0.2 - Lint your commit messages

[input] reads from stdin if --edit, --env, --from and --to are omitted

Options:
  -c, --color           toggle colored output          [boolean] [default: true]
  -g, --config          path to the config file; result code 9 if config is
                        missing                                         [string]
      --default-config  use built-in default config
                        (@commitlint/config-conventional) when no rules are
                        found                                          [boolean]
      --print-config    print resolved config
                                          [string] [choices: "", "text", "json"]
  -d, --cwd             directory to execute in
                                         [string] [default: (Working Directory)]
  -e, --edit            read last commit message from the specified file or
                        fallbacks to ./.git/COMMIT_EDITMSG              [string]
  -E, --env             check message in the file at path given by environment
                        variable value                                  [string]
  -x, --extends         array of shareable configurations to extend      [array]
  -H, --help-url        help url in error message                       [string]
  -f, --from            lower end of the commit range to lint; applies if
                        edit=false                                      [string]
      --from-last-tag   uses the last tag as the lower end of the commit range
                        to lint; applies if edit=false and from is not set
                                                                       [boolean]
      --git-log-args    additional git log arguments as space separated string,
                        example '--first-parent --cherry-pick'          [string]
  -l, --last            just analyze the last commit; applies if edit=false
                                                                       [boolean]
  -o, --format          output format of the results                    [string]
  -p, --parser-preset   configuration preset to use for
                        conventional-commits-parser                     [string]
  -q, --quiet           toggle console output         [boolean] [default: false]
  -t, --to              upper end of the commit range to lint; applies if
                        edit=false                                      [string]
  -V, --verbose         enable verbose output for reports without problems
                                                                       [boolean]
      --legacy-output   use the legacy input output format (single-line 'input:
                        ...')                                          [boolean]
  -s, --strict          enable strict mode; result code 2 for warnings, 3 for
                        errors                                         [boolean]
      --options         path to a JSON file or Common.js module containing CLI
                        options
  -v, --version         display version information                    [boolean]
  -h, --help            Show help                                      [boolean]

Lint without a config file

By default commitlint requires a configuration with rules to run — without one it exits with an error (result code 9). Pass --default-config to fall back to the built-in default config (@commitlint/config-conventional) when no rules are found, so commitlint can run without any setup:

echo "feat: add new feature" | npx commitlint --default-config

This is useful for one-off checks or server-side hooks (e.g. pre-receive) where creating a commitlint.config.js and installing a shareable config is not practical. A configuration file with rules always takes precedence over --default-config, and configs passed via --extends are kept and override the default config when the fallback applies.