diff --git a/.git_commit_template.txt b/.git_commit_template.txt
index d748e02e568..d81587cdfca 100644
--- a/.git_commit_template.txt
+++ b/.git_commit_template.txt
@@ -14,13 +14,14 @@
 # --- COMMIT END ---
 #
 # Type can be
-#    feature  (new feature)
-#    fix      (bug fix)
-#    refactor (refactoring production code)
-#    style    (formatting, missing semi colons, etc; no code change)
-#    docs     (changes to documentation)
-#    test     (adding or refactoring tests; no production code change)
-#    make     (change the build process, or tools, or infrastructure)
+#    feature     (new feature)
+#    fix         (bug fix)
+#    refactor    (refactoring production code)
+#    improvement (minor improvements in existing feature)
+#    style       (formatting, missing semi colons, etc; no code change)
+#    docs        (changes to documentation)
+#    test        (adding or refactoring tests; no production code change)
+#    make        (change the build process, or tools, or infrastructure)
 #
 # feature-name: Is the name of the VPP feature, plugin or directory.
 #               Commits across multiple components should be split.
diff --git a/extras/scripts/check_commit_msg.sh b/extras/scripts/check_commit_msg.sh
index 4b72953c8f7..4c248989507 100755
--- a/extras/scripts/check_commit_msg.sh
+++ b/extras/scripts/check_commit_msg.sh
@@ -3,7 +3,7 @@
 KNOWN_FEATURES=$(cat MAINTAINERS | sed -ne 's/^I:[[:space:]]*//p')
 FEATURES=$(git show -s --format=%s --no-color \
     | sed -ne 's/^\([a-z0-9 -]*\):.*$/\1/p')
-KNOWN_TYPES="feature fix refactor style docs test make"
+KNOWN_TYPES="feature fix refactor improvement style docs test make"
 TYPE=$(git show -s --format=%b --no-color | sed -ne 's/^Type:[[:space:]]*//p')
 ERR="=============================== ERROR ==============================="