Configure Attribution Settings

Purpose

Manage Claude Code's attribution settings for git commits and pull requests. Configure the Co-Authored-By git trailer and PR description attribution in .claude/settings.local.json. Handle customization of Claude's name, model information, and complete removal of attribution while preserving other settings.

When to Use

Activate when users want to:

• Change Claude's name in commit attribution
• Add or remove model information from attribution
• Customize PR description attribution
• Remove attribution entirely
• Reset attribution to defaults

Configuration Workflow

Follow this safe, confirmable workflow for all attribution changes:

1. Understand User Intent

Parse the user's request to determine:

• Name changes: "Change Claude's name to X" → Update name in attribution
• Remove attribution: "Remove co-authored by", "stop adding attribution" → Clear attribution
• PR attribution: "Change PR attribution to X" → Update PR description
• Model information: Mentions of model version → Ask if they want to include/exclude it
• Partial updates: Only commit or only PR mentioned → Preserve the other

2. Read Existing Configuration

Always check current settings before making changes:

# Check if .claude directory exists
if [ ! -d ".claude" ]; then
    mkdir -p .claude
fi

# Read existing settings if present
if [ -f ".claude/settings.local.json" ]; then
    cat .claude/settings.local.json
fi

Extract current attribution values if they exist:

# Get current commit attribution
CURRENT_COMMIT=$(jq -r '.attribution.commit // empty' .claude/settings.local.json 2>/dev/null)

# Get current PR attribution
CURRENT_PR=$(jq -r '.attribution.pr // empty' .claude/settings.local.json 2>/dev/null)

3. Create Backup

Before any modifications, create backup with .backup extension:

if [ -f ".claude/settings.local.json" ]; then
    cp .claude/settings.local.json .claude/settings.local.json.backup
fi

4. Validate Existing File

If settings file exists, verify it contains valid JSON:

if [ -f ".claude/settings.local.json" ]; then
    if ! jq empty .claude/settings.local.json 2>/dev/null; then
        echo "ERROR: .claude/settings.local.json contains invalid JSON"
        exit 1
    fi
fi

On validation failure: Abort and ask user to fix the malformed JSON before proceeding.

5. Handle Name Changes

When user requests name changes, determine model handling:

User says: "Change Claude's name to Big Dawg"

Ask user:

I'll update Claude's name to "Big Dawg" in the commit attribution.

Do you want to:
1. Keep the model name (e.g., "Big Dawg Sonnet 4.5")
2. Remove the model name (e.g., "Big Dawg")

What would you prefer?

Parse existing format to understand current structure:

Co-Authored-By: Claude Sonnet 4.5 <[email protected]>
                [NAME] [MODEL]      [EMAIL]

Preserve email address unless user explicitly requests changing it.

6. Handle Removal Requests

When user requests removing attribution, confirm scope:

User says: "Remove the co-authored by"

If user specified only commit attribution:

I'll remove the commit attribution. Do you also want me to remove the PR attribution?

Current PR attribution: "🤖 Generated with [Claude Code](https://claude.com/claude-code)"

Wait for user response before proceeding.

If user says remove both or confirms:

• Set commit to ""
• Set pr to ""

If user says keep PR attribution:

• Set commit to ""
• Preserve existing pr value

7. Build New Configuration

Create the new attribution configuration based on user request:

Preserve other settings: Only modify the attribution object, preserve everything else.

Example merge logic:

# Read existing settings or create empty object
EXISTING=$(cat .claude/settings.local.json 2>/dev/null || echo '{}')

# Merge with new attribution (example: change name)
echo "$EXISTING" | jq '. + {
  "attribution": {
    "commit": "Co-Authored-By: Big Dawg Sonnet 4.5 <[email protected]>",
    "pr": (.attribution.pr // "🤖 Generated with [Claude Code](https://claude.com/claude-code)")
  }
}' > .claude/settings.local.json

Critical: When updating one field (commit or pr), explicitly preserve the other using (.attribution.commit // "default") or (.attribution.pr // "default").

8. Write New Configuration

Write the updated .claude/settings.local.json:

# If settings doesn't exist, create it
if [ ! -f ".claude/settings.local.json" ]; then
    echo '{}' > .claude/settings.local.json
fi

# Use jq to merge attribution settings
jq '. + {
  "attribution": {
    "commit": "...",
    "pr": "..."
  }
}' .claude/settings.local.json > .claude/settings.local.json.tmp
mv .claude/settings.local.json.tmp .claude/settings.local.json

9. Confirm with User

After writing new configuration, show what changed:

I've updated your attribution settings:

Commit attribution:
OLD: Co-Authored-By: Claude Sonnet 4.5 <[email protected]>
NEW: Co-Authored-By: Big Dawg <[email protected]>

PR attribution: (unchanged)
🤖 Generated with [Claude Code](https://claude.com/claude-code)

Do the changes work as expected?

10. Cleanup Based on Response

If user confirms changes work:

rm -f .claude/settings.local.json.backup

If user says changes don't work or wants to revert:

if [ -f ".claude/settings.local.json.backup" ]; then
    mv .claude/settings.local.json.backup .claude/settings.local.json
fi
rm -f .claude/settings.local.json.backup

Always ensure backup file is removed regardless of outcome.

Attribution Format Reference

Commit Attribution

Git commit attribution uses git trailers format:

Standard format:

Co-Authored-By: Name <[email protected]>

With model:

Co-Authored-By: Claude Sonnet 4.5 <[email protected]>

Custom name:

Co-Authored-By: Big Dawg <[email protected]>

With custom message:

Generated with AI

Co-Authored-By: AI Assistant <[email protected]>

Empty (no attribution):

""

Notes:

• Can include multiple lines
• First lines can be custom text
• Trailer lines follow git-interpret-trailers format
• Empty string hides commit attribution entirely

PR Attribution

Pull request attribution is plain text in PR descriptions:

Standard format:

🤖 Generated with [Claude Code](https://claude.com/claude-code)

Custom message:

🤖 Generated with ✨ Style ✨ and [Big Dawg](https://claude.com/claude-code)

Simple text:

Created with Claude Code

Empty (no attribution):

""

Notes:

• Supports markdown formatting
• Can include emojis, links, etc.
• Empty string hides PR attribution entirely

Parsing User Requests

Common Request Patterns

Name changes:

• "Change Claude's name to Big Dawg" → Update name, ask about model
• "Remove the model from Co-Authored-By" → Keep name, remove model portion
• "Change Claude's name to match the commit attribution" → Extract name from commit, use in PR

Attribution removal:

• "Remove co-authored by" → Confirm if both commit and PR should be removed
• "Stop adding the co-authored by" → Same as above
• "Remove commit attribution" → Clear commit, confirm about PR
• "Remove PR attribution" → Clear PR, preserve commit

Customization:

• "Change the PR attribution to say it's generated with style" → Update PR text
• "Update Claude's name to Big Dawg in the Co-Authored-By" → Name change with model question
• "Show that Claude is helping write these commits" → Ensure attribution is visible

Partial updates:

• If user only mentions commit → Preserve PR attribution
• If user only mentions PR → Preserve commit attribution
• Always confirm scope when removing attribution

Validation Logic

Before writing configuration, validate:

1. Email format: If custom email provided, verify it's valid format
2. Trailer format: Commit attribution with trailers must follow git format
3. JSON validity: Ensure resulting JSON is valid
4. Preservation check: Verify other settings aren't accidentally removed

On validation failure: Inform user of issue and suggest corrections.

Preserving Existing Settings

Critical principle: Only modify attribution object, preserve everything else.

Settings.local.json Preservation

When updating .claude/settings.local.json:

• Only modify the attribution object
• Preserve all other keys (statusLine, model, hooks, etc.)
• When updating only commit, preserve existing pr
• When updating only pr, preserve existing commit
• Use jq to merge rather than overwrite

Example merging logic (update commit only):

jq --arg newCommit "Co-Authored-By: Big Dawg <[email protected]>" \
   '. + {
     "attribution": {
       "commit": $newCommit,
       "pr": (.attribution.pr // "🤖 Generated with [Claude Code](https://claude.com/claude-code)")
     }
   }' .claude/settings.local.json

Attribution Field Preservation

When user updates one field:

• Updating commit → Preserve PR (use existing value or default)
• Updating PR → Preserve commit (use existing value or default)
• Both specified → Update both

Default values if field doesn't exist:

• Commit: "Co-Authored-By: Claude Sonnet 4.5 <[email protected]>"
• PR: "🤖 Generated with Claude Code"

Examples

See examples/ directory for complete working examples:

• examples/name-change.json - Changing Claude's name
• examples/remove-model.json - Removing model from attribution
• examples/custom-pr.json - Custom PR attribution
• examples/remove-all.json - Removing all attribution
• examples/partial-update.json - Updating only one field

Additional Resources

Reference Files

For detailed information:

• references/attribution-formats.md - Complete attribution format guide

Error Handling

Directory Creation

If .claude/ doesn't exist, create it automatically:

mkdir -p .claude

File Creation

If settings file doesn't exist, create with empty object:

echo '{}' > .claude/settings.local.json

Malformed JSON

If existing file contains invalid JSON:

1. Detect using jq empty
2. Abort the operation
3. Ask user to fix JSON manually before proceeding
4. Do NOT attempt automatic fixes

Backup Recovery

If user wants to revert:

1. Restore from backup
2. Remove backup file
3. Confirm restoration complete

User Confirmation

When removing attribution:

1. Always confirm scope (commit only, PR only, or both)
2. Show current values being removed
3. Wait for explicit confirmation before proceeding

Notes

• Attribution settings take effect on next commit or PR creation
• Empty strings ("") completely hide attribution
• Git trailers appear at end of commit message
• PR attribution appears in PR description
• Use jq for all JSON operations to ensure validity
• Always preserve settings the user didn't explicitly request to change
• When in doubt about model inclusion, ask the user
• Backup workflow provides safety without cluttering workspace