init

The cz init command helps you set up Commitizen in your project by creating a configuration file with your preferred settings.

Usage

Command

cz init

Interactive Configuration

When you run cz init, Commitizen will guide you through an interactive setup process:

Configuration File

The initialization process will create a configuration file in your project root.

Choose the configuration file format based on your project type:

• Use pyproject.toml for Python projects
• Use .cz.toml, .cz.yaml, .cz.json, etc. for other projects.

Configuration Options

During the initialization process, you'll be prompted to configure the following settings:

1. Convention Rules: Select the commit message convention to follow (e.g., conventional commits)
2. Version Provider: Choose how to manage versioning in your project. Commitizen supports multiple version management systems:
   • commitizen: Uses Commitizen's built-in version management system
   • npm: Manages version in package.json for Node.js projects
   • cargo: Manages version in Cargo.toml for Rust projects
   • composer: Manages version in composer.json for PHP projects
   • pep621: Uses pyproject.toml with PEP 621 standard
   • poetry: Uses pyproject.toml with Poetry configuration
   • uv: Uses pyproject.toml and uv.lock for Python projects
   • scm: Reads version directly from git tags without modifying files
3. Project Version: The current version of your project will be detected automatically
4. Tag Format: The format used for version tags in your repository
5. Version Type: Choose between:
   • semver or semver2: Semantic Versioning (MAJOR.MINOR.PATCH)
   • pep440: Python Package Versioning
6. Changelog Generation: Configure whether to automatically generate changelog during version bumps
7. Alpha Versioning: Option to keep major version at 0 for alpha/beta software
8. Pre-commit Hooks: Set up Git pre-commit hooks for automated commit message validation

Example

# Start the initialization process
cz init

# Follow the interactive prompts to configure your project

Next Steps

After initialization, you can:

1. Start using cz commit to create conventional commits
2. Use cz bump to manage versioning
3. Configure additional settings in your project's configuration file