Default Settings

GitWhisper allows you to configure default settings to streamline your workflow. Instead of specifying options with every command, set your preferences once and use them automatically.

Setting Defaults

Use the set-defaults command to configure your preferred model and behavior:

# Interactive mode (recommended)
gw set-defaults

# Specify model directly
gw set-defaults --model claude

# Set model with specific variant
gw set-defaults --model openai --model-variant gpt-4o

# Configure multiple options at once
gw set-defaults --model claude --confirm-commits --allow-emojis

Configuration Options

Default Model

Set which AI model to use by default:

gw set-defaults --model openai

Available models:

claude - Anthropic Claude
openai - OpenAI GPT models
gemini - Google Gemini
grok - xAI Grok
llama - Meta Llama
deepseek - DeepSeek
github - GitHub Copilot
ollama - Local models
free - Free tier (LLM7.io)

Model Variant

Specify a particular version of the model:

# OpenAI variants
gw set-defaults --model openai --model-variant gpt-4o
gw set-defaults --model openai --model-variant gpt-4-turbo
gw set-defaults --model openai --model-variant gpt-3.5-turbo

# Claude variants
gw set-defaults --model claude --model-variant claude-3-opus-20240229
gw set-defaults --model claude --model-variant claude-3-sonnet-20240229
gw set-defaults --model claude --model-variant claude-3-haiku-20240307

# Gemini variants
gw set-defaults --model gemini --model-variant gemini-pro
gw set-defaults --model gemini --model-variant gemini-1.5-pro

If you don’t specify a variant, GitWhisper will use the default variant for that model. Each model provider has its own recommended default.

Ollama Base URL

For Ollama users, configure a custom base URL:

# Use default (http://localhost:11434)
gw set-defaults --model ollama

# Custom base URL
gw set-defaults --model ollama --base-url http://your-server:11434

Commit Confirmation

Control whether to confirm commit messages before applying:

# Always confirm (recommended for new users)
gw set-defaults --confirm-commits

# Never confirm (auto-commit)
gw set-defaults --no-confirm-commits

Commit confirmation is recommended when you’re first getting started with GitWhisper. Once you’re comfortable with the generated messages, you can disable it for faster workflows.

Emoji Support

Enable or disable emojis in commit messages:

# Enable emojis (default)
gw set-defaults --allow-emojis

# Disable emojis
gw set-defaults --no-allow-emojis

With emojis enabled:

✨ feat: Add user authentication system
🐛 fix: Resolve memory leak in data processor
📝 docs: Update API documentation

Without emojis:

feat: Add user authentication system
fix: Resolve memory leak in data processor
docs: Update API documentation

Maximum Diff Size

Set the maximum diff size (in characters) before GitWhisper prompts for interactive staging:

# Default: 50000 characters
gw set-defaults --max-diff-size 50000

# Larger projects
gw set-defaults --max-diff-size 100000

# Smaller threshold for more prompts
gw set-defaults --max-diff-size 25000

When your changes exceed this threshold, GitWhisper will suggest using interactive staging (git add -p) to commit changes in smaller, more focused chunks.

Maximum File Size

Set the maximum file size (in MB) before warning about large files:

# Default: 10 MB
gw set-defaults --max-file-size 10

# Allow larger files
gw set-defaults --max-file-size 25

# Stricter limit
gw set-defaults --max-file-size 5

Interactive Configuration

Running set-defaults without arguments provides an interactive experience:

$ gw set-defaults
? Select the AI model to set as default: › openai
  claude
  openai  ← selected
  gemini
  grok
  llama
  deepseek
  github
  ollama

? Do you want to set a specific model variant for openai? › Yes
? Enter the model variant: gpt-4o

? Do you want to confirm commit messages before they are applied? › Yes

✓ openai -> gpt-4o has been set as the default model for commits.
✓ Commit confirmation enabled. All commits will require confirmation.

Configuration File Structure

Defaults are stored in ~/.git_whisper.yaml:

api_keys:
  claude: sk-ant-xxx
  openai: sk-xxx

defaults:
  model: openai
  variant: gpt-4o

confirm_commits: true
allow_emojis: true
always_add: false
max_diff_size: 50000
max_file_size: 10485760  # 10 MB in bytes

ollamaBaseUrl: http://localhost:11434

Viewing Current Defaults

Check your current default settings:

# View all configuration
gw show-config

# View just the defaults
gw show-defaults

Output:

Gitwhisper Configs:

Defaults:
  model:
    openai
  variant:
    gpt-4o

Confirm Commits:
  true

Allow Emojis:
  true

Clearing Defaults

Remove your default model configuration:

gw clear-defaults

Clearing defaults only removes the default model and variant. Other settings like confirm_commits and allow_emojis are preserved.

Advanced Configuration

Always add changes before committing

Configure GitWhisper to automatically stage unstaged changes:

gw always-add true

When enabled:

If there are no staged changes, GitWhisper will automatically run git add .
Useful for faster workflows when you typically commit all changes

When disabled (default):

GitWhisper will abort if there are no staged changes
Gives you more control over what gets committed

# Enable
gw always-add true

# Disable
gw always-add false

# Interactive prompt
gw always-add

Combining multiple settings

Set multiple preferences in a single command:

gw set-defaults \
  --model claude \
  --model-variant claude-3-opus-20240229 \
  --confirm-commits \
  --allow-emojis \
  --max-diff-size 100000 \
  --max-file-size 20

This creates a complete configuration in one step.

Overriding defaults per command

Even with defaults set, you can override them for individual commands:

# Your default is openai, but use claude for this commit
gw commit --model claude

# Your default is gpt-4o, but use gpt-3.5-turbo
gw commit --model openai --model-variant gpt-3.5-turbo

# Override confirmation setting
gw commit --no-confirm

Command-line arguments always take precedence over saved defaults.

Per-project configuration

While GitWhisper uses a global configuration file (~/.git_whisper.yaml), you can use different settings per project:

Use environment variables in project-specific scripts:

# scripts/commit.sh
#!/bin/bash
export ANTHROPIC_API_KEY=$CLAUDE_KEY_PROJECT_A
gw commit --model claude --model-variant claude-3-opus

Create shell aliases:

# ~/.bashrc or ~/.zshrc
alias gwc-prod='gw commit --model claude --confirm-commits'
alias gwc-dev='gw commit --model openai --no-confirm-commits'

Use direnv for automatic environment setup:

# .envrc in project directory
export ANTHROPIC_API_KEY=sk-ant-project-specific

Free disclaimer acceptance

When using the free tier for the first time, GitWhisper stores your acceptance:

free_disclaimer_accepted: true

This prevents the disclaimer from appearing on every use of the free tier.

Best Practices

For Teams

Recommend consistent settings across the team:

Same model and variant for consistent commit styles
Enable emojis or disable them for all team members
Document your team’s configuration in your project README

For Solo Developers

Optimize for your workflow:

Disable confirm-commits once you trust the generations
Enable always-add to skip the staging step
Use faster models (gpt-3.5-turbo) for simple commits

For Open Source

Balance speed and quality:

Keep confirm-commits enabled to review messages
Use emojis for better commit readability
Set reasonable max-diff-size to avoid huge commits

For CI/CD

Use environment variables:

Don’t rely on saved configuration in automated environments
Set explicit models and variants in pipeline configs
Disable confirmation prompts

Troubleshooting

Default model not being used

Check your configuration:
```
gw show-config
```
Ensure the defaults section exists in your config
Verify you have an API key saved for the default model
Command-line arguments override defaults - check if you’re passing --model

Variant not recognized

Some variants are model-specific. Verify the variant exists:

# List available variants for a model
gw list-variants --model openai

If you specify an invalid variant, GitWhisper will use the model’s default variant and show a warning.

Configuration not persisting

Check file permissions:
```
ls -la ~/.git_whisper.yaml
```
Verify the file is writable
On Windows, ensure the file isn’t marked as read-only
Check for disk space issues

Next Steps

API Keys

Learn how to manage API keys for different providers

Language Settings

Configure language preferences for commit messages

Get Started

Core Features

Commands

Configuration

Advanced Usage

Setting Defaults

Configuration Options

Default Model

Model Variant

Ollama Base URL

Commit Confirmation

Emoji Support

Maximum Diff Size

Maximum File Size

Interactive Configuration

Configuration File Structure

Viewing Current Defaults

Clearing Defaults

Advanced Configuration

Best Practices

For Teams

For Solo Developers

For Open Source

For CI/CD

Troubleshooting

Next Steps

API Keys

Language Settings

Build docs developers (and LLMs) love

Get Started

Core Features

Commands

Configuration

Advanced Usage

​Setting Defaults

​Configuration Options

​Default Model

​Model Variant

​Ollama Base URL

​Commit Confirmation

​Emoji Support

​Maximum Diff Size

​Maximum File Size

​Interactive Configuration

​Configuration File Structure

​Viewing Current Defaults

​Clearing Defaults

​Advanced Configuration

​Best Practices

For Teams

For Solo Developers

For Open Source

For CI/CD

​Troubleshooting

​Next Steps

API Keys

Language Settings

Build docs developers (and LLMs) love

Setting Defaults

Configuration Options

Default Model

Model Variant

Ollama Base URL

Commit Confirmation

Emoji Support

Maximum Diff Size

Maximum File Size

Interactive Configuration

Configuration File Structure

Viewing Current Defaults

Clearing Defaults

Advanced Configuration

Best Practices

Troubleshooting

Next Steps