diff --git a/package.json b/package.json
index 273a00c6da..dc0c1273be 100644
--- a/package.json
+++ b/package.json
@@ -17,7 +17,10 @@
     "commitmsg": "node distribution/cli.js --edit",
     "changelog": "conventional-changelog --preset angular --infile changelog.md --same-file --output-unreleased",
     "push": "git push && git push --tags && hub release create \"v$npm_package_version\" --message=\"v$npm_package_version\n$(conventional-changelog -p angular)\" && npm publish",
-    "test": "xo *.js && node distribution/cli.js --from=HEAD~1 && ava",
+    "pretest": "npm run lint",
+    "test": "ava",
+    "lint": "xo *.js",
+    "commitlint": "node distribution/cli.js --from=HEAD~1",
     "preversion": "npm run build && npm test",
     "release": "npm version --no-git-tag-version $(conventional-recommended-bump -p angular)",
     "version": "npm run changelog && git add .",
@@ -76,6 +79,12 @@
     "conventional-changelog-cli": "1.2.0",
     "conventional-recommended-bump": "0.3.0",
     "cz-conventional-changelog-lint": "0.1.3",
+    "execa": "0.6.0",
+    "git-toplevel": "1.1.1",
+    "mz": "2.6.0",
+    "path-exists": "3.0.0",
+    "rimraf": "2.6.1",
+    "unexpected": "10.20.0",
     "xo": "0.17.1"
   },
   "dependencies": {
diff --git a/source/library/get-messages.js b/source/library/get-messages.js
index 78116fb4dc..e73e4ff7c6 100644
--- a/source/library/get-messages.js
+++ b/source/library/get-messages.js
@@ -1,15 +1,25 @@
-// core modules
-import {
-	readFile as readFileNodeback
-} from 'fs';
-
-import denodeify from 'denodeify';
+import {join} from 'path';
 import gitRawCommits from 'git-raw-commits';
+import gitToplevel from 'git-toplevel';
+import {readFile} from 'mz/fs';
 
-const readFile = denodeify(readFileNodeback);
+export default getCommitMessages;
 
 // Get commit messages
-function getCommits(options) {
+// Object => Promise<Array<String>>
+async function getCommitMessages(settings) {
+	const {from, to, edit} = settings;
+
+	if (edit) {
+		return getEditCommit();
+	}
+
+	return await getHistoryCommits({from, to});
+}
+
+// Get commit messages from history
+// Object => Promise<Array<String>>
+function getHistoryCommits(options) {
 	return new Promise((resolve, reject) => {
 		const data = [];
 		gitRawCommits(options)
@@ -21,17 +31,11 @@ function getCommits(options) {
 	});
 }
 
-// Get commit messages
-export default async settings => {
-	const {from, to, edit} = settings;
-
-	if (edit) {
-		const editFile = await readFile(`.git/COMMIT_EDITMSG`);
-		return [editFile.toString('utf-8')];
-	} else {
-		return await getCommits({
-			from,
-			to
-		});
-	}
+// Get recently edited commit message
+// () => Promise<Array<String>>
+async function getEditCommit() {
+	const top = await gitToplevel();
+	const editFilePath = join(top, '.git/COMMIT_EDITMSG');
+	const editFile = await readFile(editFilePath);
+	return [`${editFile.toString('utf-8')}\n`];
 }
diff --git a/test/integration/get-messages.js b/test/integration/get-messages.js
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000..790bcd6a9e
--- /dev/null
+++ b/test/integration/get-messages.js
@@ -0,0 +1,87 @@
+import {tmpdir} from 'os';
+import crypto from 'crypto';
+import {join} from 'path';
+
+import test from 'ava';
+import denodeify from 'denodeify';
+import execa from 'execa';
+import {mkdir, writeFile} from 'mz/fs';
+import exists from 'path-exists';
+import rimraf from 'rimraf';
+import expect from 'unexpected';
+
+import getMessages from '../../source/library/get-messages';
+
+const rm = denodeify(rimraf);
+
+test.serial('get edit commit message from git root', async () => {
+	const repo = await initRepository();
+
+	await writeFile('alpha.txt', 'alpha');
+	await execa('git', ['add', '.']);
+	await execa('git', ['commit', '-m', 'alpha']);
+
+	const expected = ['alpha\n\n'];
+	const actual = await getMessages({edit: true});
+	expect(actual, 'to equal', expected);
+
+	await cleanRepository(repo);
+});
+
+test.serial('get history commit messages', async () => {
+	const repo = await initRepository();
+
+	await writeFile('alpha.txt', 'alpha');
+	await execa('git', ['add', 'alpha.txt']);
+	await execa('git', ['commit', '-m', 'alpha']);
+	await execa('git', ['rm', 'alpha.txt']);
+	await execa('git', ['commit', '-m', 'remove alpha']);
+
+	const expected = ['remove alpha\n\n', 'alpha\n\n'];
+	const actual = await getMessages({});
+	expect(actual, 'to equal', expected);
+
+	await cleanRepository(repo);
+});
+
+test.serial('get edit commit message from git subdirectory', async () => {
+	const repo = await initRepository();
+
+	await mkdir('beta');
+	await writeFile('beta/beta.txt', 'beta');
+	process.chdir('beta');
+	await execa('git', ['add', '.']);
+	await execa('git', ['commit', '-m', 'beta']);
+
+	const expected = ['beta\n\n'];
+	const actual = await getMessages({edit: true});
+	expect(actual, 'to equal', expected);
+
+	await cleanRepository(repo);
+});
+
+async function initRepository() {
+	const previous = process.cwd();
+	const directory = join(tmpdir(), rand());
+
+	await execa('git', ['init', directory]);
+
+	process.chdir(directory);
+
+	await execa('git', ['config', 'user.email', 'test@example.com']);
+	await execa('git', ['config', 'user.name', 'ava']);
+
+	return {directory, previous};
+}
+
+async function cleanRepository(repo) {
+	process.chdir(repo.previous);
+
+	if (await exists(repo.directory)) {
+		await rm(repo.directory);
+	}
+}
+
+function rand() {
+	return crypto.randomBytes(Math.ceil(6)).toString('hex').slice(0, 12);
+}