diff --git a/cli/src/main/java/org/openjdk/skara/cli/GitJCheck.java b/cli/src/main/java/org/openjdk/skara/cli/GitJCheck.java
index 76dac2829..18d0df176 100644
--- a/cli/src/main/java/org/openjdk/skara/cli/GitJCheck.java
+++ b/cli/src/main/java/org/openjdk/skara/cli/GitJCheck.java
@@ -1,5 +1,5 @@
 /*
- * Copyright (c) 2018, 2023, Oracle and/or its affiliates. All rights reserved.
+ * Copyright (c) 2018, 2024, Oracle and/or its affiliates. All rights reserved.
  * DO NOT ALTER OR REMOVE COPYRIGHT NOTICES OR THIS FILE HEADER.
  *
  * This code is free software; you can redistribute it and/or modify it
@@ -325,10 +325,14 @@ else if (confFile || confWorkingTree || workingTree) {
         if (staged) {
             ranges.clear();
             ranges.add(STAGED_REV);
+            System.out.println("When jcheck is running on staged, only the following commit checks are available: " +
+                    JCheck.commitCheckNamesForStagedOrWorkingTree());
         }
         if (workingTree) {
             ranges.clear();
             ranges.add(WORKING_TREE_REV);
+            System.out.println("When jcheck is running on working-tree, only the following commit checks are available: " +
+                    JCheck.commitCheckNamesForStagedOrWorkingTree());
         }
 
         var isLax = getSwitch("lax", arguments);
diff --git a/jcheck/src/main/java/org/openjdk/skara/jcheck/JCheck.java b/jcheck/src/main/java/org/openjdk/skara/jcheck/JCheck.java
index 86c5b36ea..263ae50b1 100644
--- a/jcheck/src/main/java/org/openjdk/skara/jcheck/JCheck.java
+++ b/jcheck/src/main/java/org/openjdk/skara/jcheck/JCheck.java
@@ -41,6 +41,14 @@ public class JCheck {
     private final CommitMessageParser parser;
     private final String revisionRange;
     private final List<CommitCheck> commitChecks;
+    private final static List<CommitCheck> commitChecksForStagedOrWorkingTree = List.of(
+            new AuthorCheck(),
+            new CommitterCheck(),
+            new WhitespaceCheck(),
+            new ExecutableCheck(),
+            new SymlinkCheck(),
+            new BinaryCheck()
+    );
     private final List<RepositoryCheck> repositoryChecks;
     private final List<String> additionalConfiguration;
     private final JCheckConfiguration overridingConfiguration;
@@ -138,7 +146,8 @@ private Iterator<Issue> checkCommit(Commit commit) {
         }
         var finalCensus = census;
         var message = parser.parse(commit);
-        var enabled = conf.checks().enabled(commitChecks);
+        var availableChecks = (revisionRange.equals(STAGED_REV) || revisionRange.equals(WORKING_TREE_REV)) ? commitChecksForStagedOrWorkingTree : commitChecks;
+        var enabled = conf.checks().enabled(availableChecks);
         var iterator = new MapIterator<>(enabled.iterator(), c -> {
             log.finer("Running commit check '" + c.name() + "' for " + commit.hash().hex());
             return c.check(commit, message, conf, finalCensus);
@@ -311,4 +320,10 @@ public static Set<Check> checksFor(ReadOnlyRepository repository, JCheckConfigur
                                 null);
         return jcheck.checksForRange();
     }
+
+    public static List<String> commitCheckNamesForStagedOrWorkingTree() {
+        return commitChecksForStagedOrWorkingTree.stream()
+                .map(Check::name)
+                .toList();
+    }
 }
diff --git a/vcs/src/main/java/org/openjdk/skara/vcs/git/GitRepository.java b/vcs/src/main/java/org/openjdk/skara/vcs/git/GitRepository.java
index 4f9f5c339..440ecd673 100644
--- a/vcs/src/main/java/org/openjdk/skara/vcs/git/GitRepository.java
+++ b/vcs/src/main/java/org/openjdk/skara/vcs/git/GitRepository.java
@@ -1716,7 +1716,7 @@ public Optional<List<String>> stagedFileContents(Path path) {
     public Commit staged() throws IOException {
         var author = new Author(username().orElse("jcheck"), email().orElse("jcheck@none.none"));
         var commitMetaData = new CommitMetadata(new Hash("staged"), List.of(head()), author, ZonedDateTime.now(),
-                author, ZonedDateTime.now(), List.of(""));
+                author, ZonedDateTime.now(), List.of("Fake commit message for staged"));
         return new Commit(commitMetaData, List.of(diffStaged()));
     }
 
@@ -1727,7 +1727,7 @@ public Commit staged() throws IOException {
     public Commit workingTree() throws IOException {
         var author = new Author(username().orElse("jcheck"), email().orElse("jcheck@none.none"));
         var commitMetaData = new CommitMetadata(new Hash("working-tree"), List.of(head()), author, ZonedDateTime.now(),
-                author, ZonedDateTime.now(), List.of(""));
+                author, ZonedDateTime.now(), List.of("Fake commit message for working-tree"));
         return new Commit(commitMetaData, List.of(diff(head())));
     }