Simon Willison has released commit-rewriter 0.1, a web application designed to clean up messy commit messages generated by coding agents. The tool emerged from a specific need to fix the initial commits for Datasette security releases, which contained internal issue references and agent artifacts unsuitable for public history. Users run the script via the command line against a local repository, and the interface displays a list of recent commits with editable text areas for each message.
The application creates a timestamped branch before making changes to ensure the original history remains recoverable. It then rewrites every commit from the first edited point back to the present, updating the repository state permanently. This approach solves a common problem where automated tools leave behind noise that requires manual scrubbing before publication.
* Runs via `uvx commit-rewriter path/to/repo`
* Rewrites history from the first edited commit forward
* Preserves original state on a backup branch
