How do I sign and annotate a tag in git?

• March 28, 2026
• git
• chatGpt

In Git, tags can be either lightweight or annotated—and only annotated tags can be signed or include metadata like a message.

Here’s how to create, sign, and annotate tags step by step 👇

🏷️ 1. Create an annotated tag

Annotated tags include a message, author, and date.

git tag -a v1.0.0 -m "Release version 1.0.0"

👉 This creates a tag named v1.0.0 with a message.

You can also tag a specific commit:

git tag -a v1.0.0 <commit-hash> -m "Release version 1.0.0"

✍️ 2. Create a signed tag (GPG)

To sign a tag, you need a GPG key set up in Git.

First, make sure Git knows your signing key:

git config --global user.signingkey <your-gpg-key-id>

Then create a signed tag:

git tag -s v1.0.0 -m "Signed release v1.0.0"

👉 -s = sign with GPG

🔐 3. Verify a signed tag

To check if a tag is valid and signed:

git tag -v v1.0.0

📤 4. Push tags to remote

Tags are not pushed automatically.

Push a single tag:

git push origin v1.0.0

Push all tags:

git push --tags

🔍 5. View tag details

To inspect an annotated tag:

git show v1.0.0

⚡ Quick comparison

💡 Pro tips

• Use annotated tags for releases (best practice)
• Use signed tags for security-sensitive or public projects
• Combine flags if needed (-s already implies annotated)

If you want, I can also show how to set up a GPG key from scratch or use SSH signing instead (newer Git feature).

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