ADR-0045: Commit from a bar that appears only when something is staged

• Status: Accepted; amended by ADR-0081
• Date: 2026-08-07
• Deciders: jka
• Decision: D45

Context

After ADR-0044 a user could stage but not commit. Commit needs text input, and rio had no inline input inside a dock pane yet. VS Code shows a commit box at all times.

Decision

The git pane has a commit bar at its bottom that is shown only when the index contains a staged change and hidden otherwise. It holds a single-line summary entry with a grey placeholder and a Commit button; Enter commits.

• git.commit {message} runs git commit -m in the core and returns the new short hash, which the pane header briefly shows.
• An empty message is refused in the GUI without calling the core. Other failures are git's own messages.
• Staging another file does not hide and clear the bar, so a half-typed message survives.

Consequences

• The control is present exactly when it can succeed, so "nothing to commit" cannot be triggered from the UI and a clean repository shows no dead space.
• This is the pattern later applied to the bulk discard button (ADR-0093): a destructive or conditional control appears only when it means something.
• The commit message body was added as an optional expansion in ADR-0081.