docs: document --rev and the skip notice, and date v2.14.0

docs/changelog.md

@@ -11,6 +11,7 @@ below and to the page that documents the feature properly.
 
 | Version | What changed | Documented in |
 |---|---|---|
+| [2.15.0](#v2150) | `--rev` names the commit under test; skipped checks are named on stderr | [Command-line recipes](example.md#checking-a-range-of-commits) |
 | [2.14.0](#v2140) | CC003 judges imperative mood by a word's form, not by a list of verbs | [CC003](rules.md#cc003) |
 | [2.13.1](#v2131) | JSON output reports the checked value for passing checks | [Output for scripts and CI](example.md#output-for-scripts-and-ci) |
 | [2.13.0](#v2130) | Stable rule IDs in terminal output and JSON | [Rules reference](rules.md) |
@@ -24,7 +25,49 @@ below and to the page that documents the feature properly.
 | [2.5.0](#v250) | Organization-wide config with `inherit_from` | [Integrations](guides/integrations.md#across-an-organization) |
 | [2.0.0](#v200) | Configuration moved from YAML to TOML — breaking | [Migrating from v1](migration.md) |
 
-## v2.14.0 (unreleased) { #v2140 }
+## v2.15.0 (unreleased) { #v2150 }
+
+### Added
+
+* **`--rev REVISION` names the commit under test** — anything `git rev-parse`
+  understands: a SHA, `HEAD~2`, `HEAD^2`. Message checks read that commit's
+  message, and the author checks read **that commit's recorded author, never
+  the local git config** — an existing commit's identity is a fact about the
+  commit, not about whoever runs the check. Before `--rev`, CI could not
+  iterate a pull request's commits without checking each one out, and a
+  malformed author on any commit passed as long as the operator's own config
+  was valid. A revision that does not resolve is a one-line error before any
+  check runs; combining `--rev` with a message file or stdin is rejected,
+  since each would name a second subject for the same checks. See
+  [Checking a range of commits](example.md#checking-a-range-of-commits).
+
+### Fixed
+
+* **The CLI no longer hangs on an open, idle stdin** — stdin was read
+  whenever it was not a terminal, for every check type. Under CI runners and
+  process managers that hand the process a pipe nothing ever writes to or
+  closes, `commit-check --author-name` blocked forever: a stuck step, not a
+  failed one. The read is now gated on data actually being available, and
+  genuinely piped input still works unchanged.
+
+### Changed
+
+* **Skipped checks are named on stderr instead of passing in silence** — a
+  check that had nothing to judge (a merge subject under the subject rules,
+  an absent message) reports a skip, and text mode prints one line naming
+  every skipped check: `⊘ skipped (not validated): subject-max-length,
+  subject-min-length`. Exit codes are unchanged and stdout is untouched. The
+  case that motivated it: on a `pull_request` checkout `HEAD` is the
+  synthetic merge commit, so a bare `commit-check -m` used to exit `0`
+  having validated nothing it was asked about. See
+  [When a check is skipped](example.md#when-a-check-is-skipped).
+
+* **Only git's literal merge and fixup prefixes bypass the subject rules** —
+  the bypass matched any subject starting with the word "merge" in any case,
+  so an author's own `merge the parser tables` escaped judgement. Now only
+  the machine-written forms qualify: `Merge ` (and `fixup! ` for CC003).
+
+## v2.14.0 (2026-08-12) { #v2140 }
 
 ### Changed
 

docs/configuration.md

@@ -167,7 +167,7 @@ Used from a hook definition, with no config file anywhere in the repository:
 ```yaml title=".pre-commit-config.yaml"
 repos:
   - repo: https://github.com/commit-check/commit-check
-    rev: v2.13.4
+    rev: v2.14.0
     hooks:
       - id: check-message
         args:

docs/example.md

@@ -9,7 +9,8 @@ in [Configuration](configuration.md).
 
 ## Checking a commit message
 
-The message can come from the repository, a file, or standard input.
+The message can come from the repository, a file, standard input, or a named
+revision.
 
 === "From the repository"
 
@@ -33,6 +34,21 @@ The message can come from the repository, a file, or standard input.
     $ echo "feat(auth): add OAuth2 login" | commit-check -m
     ```
 
+=== "From a revision"
+
+    `--rev` names the commit under test — anything `git rev-parse`
+    understands. A revision that does not resolve is a one-line error before
+    any check runs.
+
+    ```console
+    $ commit-check -m --rev HEAD~1
+    $ commit-check -m --rev 1a2b3c4
+    ```
+
+    A revision and a message file would name two different subjects for the
+    same checks, so passing both is rejected; stdin is likewise not consulted
+    while `--rev` is set.
+
 ### Trying a message before you write it
 
 ```console
@@ -91,6 +107,17 @@ Either flag works alone. [CC101](rules.md#cc101) and
 [CC102](rules.md#cc102) describe what the built-in patterns accept and how to
 tighten them.
 
+Without `--rev`, these validate the *local git config* — whoever is about to
+commit — falling back to `HEAD`'s author only when no identity is configured.
+That is the right subject for a hook and the wrong one for CI: an existing
+commit's identity is a fact about the commit, not about the operator running
+the check. Add `--rev` and both checks read that commit's recorded author, and
+the config is never consulted:
+
+```console
+$ commit-check --author-name --author-email --rev HEAD
+```
+
 ## Blocking force pushes
 
 ```console
@@ -104,7 +131,7 @@ pushed:
 ```yaml title=".pre-commit-config.yaml"
 repos:
   - repo: https://github.com/commit-check/commit-check
-    rev: v2.13.4
+    rev: v2.14.0
     hooks:
       - id: check-no-force-push
         stages: [pre-push]
@@ -165,11 +192,13 @@ and how CLI, environment and file settings override each other.
 
 ### Checking a range of commits
 
-Nothing built in, but the exit code makes it a one-liner:
+`--rev` makes each commit addressable without checking it out or piping its
+message, and it is the only way the author checks apply to the commit rather
+than to the local config:
 
 ```bash title="check-recent.sh"
 #!/usr/bin/env bash
-# Check the last N commit messages; exits non-zero if any fail.
+# Check the last N commits; exits non-zero if any fail.
 
 # Resolved before the loop rather than inside it: an unreadable range or a
 # directory that is not a repository would otherwise expand to nothing, and
@@ -178,14 +207,49 @@ shas=$(git rev-list -n "${1:-10}" HEAD) || exit 1
 
 status=0
 for sha in $shas; do
-  if ! git log -1 --format=%B "$sha" | commit-check -m --compact; then
+  if ! commit-check -m --author-name --author-email --rev "$sha" --compact; then
     echo "  ↑ $sha"
     status=1
   fi
 done
 exit $status
 ```
 
+On a `pull_request` checkout the same loop covers exactly the commits the PR
+adds — `HEAD` is GitHub's synthetic merge commit, whose first parent is the
+base branch and second the PR branch:
+
+```console
+$ git rev-list HEAD^1..HEAD^2
+```
+
+### When a check is skipped
+
+A check that had nothing to judge reports a **skip**, not a pass. The common
+case is a merge subject: `Merge branch 'x'` is git's writing, so
+[CC002](rules.md#cc002), [CC003](rules.md#cc003), [CC004](rules.md#cc004) and
+[CC005](rules.md#cc005) decline it rather than grade prose the author never
+wrote. Only git's literal `Merge ` prefix qualifies (plus `fixup! ` for
+CC003); a subject that merely starts with the lowercase word is judged like
+any other.
+
+Text mode names every skipped check in one line on stderr, leaving stdout and
+the exit code untouched — a skip is still not a failure:
+
+```console
+$ echo "Merge branch 'main' into topic" | commit-check -m --no-banner
+⊘ skipped (not validated): subject-max-length, subject-min-length
+```
+
+In JSON each skipped check carries `"status": "skip"`, distinct from `"pass"`.
+
+!!! warning "A green run can still have validated nothing"
+
+    On a `pull_request` checkout, `HEAD` is the synthetic merge commit — so a
+    bare `commit-check -m` exits `0` with every subject rule skipped. The
+    notice makes that visible; the fix is to check what you actually mean:
+    the PR title piped on stdin, or each branch commit via `--rev` as above.
+
 ### Reading the JSON
 
 ```console

docs/guides/integrations.md

@@ -23,7 +23,7 @@ Add Commit Check to `.pre-commit-config.yaml`:
 ```yaml title=".pre-commit-config.yaml"
 repos:
   - repo: https://github.com/commit-check/commit-check
-    rev: v2.13.4
+    rev: v2.14.0
     hooks:
       - id: check-message
       - id: check-branch
@@ -70,7 +70,7 @@ Options can be passed as hook arguments, which keeps everything in one file:
 ```yaml title=".pre-commit-config.yaml"
 repos:
   - repo: https://github.com/commit-check/commit-check
-    rev: v2.13.4
+    rev: v2.14.0
     hooks:
       - id: check-message
         args:

docs/index.md

@@ -36,7 +36,7 @@ whatever your AI agent is committing on your behalf.
     ```yaml title=".pre-commit-config.yaml"
     repos:
       - repo: https://github.com/commit-check/commit-check
-        rev: v2.13.4
+        rev: v2.14.0
         hooks:
           - id: check-message
           - id: check-branch