diff --git a/CHANGELOG.md b/CHANGELOG.md
index 5722be777..e846b6f4d 100644
--- a/CHANGELOG.md
+++ b/CHANGELOG.md
@@ -21,6 +21,10 @@ and this project adheres to [Semantic Versioning](http://semver.org/).
 * `new-component` command was moved to the `component` command group ([#122])
 * Jsonnet library file extension to `.libsonnet` in component template ([#137])
 
+### Fixed
+
+* Commit messages from automated catalog updates do no longer contain a leading newline ([#136])
+
 ## [v0.1.6]
 
 ### Changed
@@ -106,4 +110,5 @@ Initial implementation
 [#130]: https://github.com/projectsyn/commodore/pull/130
 [#133]: https://github.com/projectsyn/commodore/pull/133
 [#134]: https://github.com/projectsyn/commodore/pull/134
+[#136]: https://github.com/projectsyn/commodore/issues/136
 [#137]: https://github.com/projectsyn/commodore/pull/137
diff --git a/commodore/catalog.py b/commodore/catalog.py
index 30dc6392d..ff388c54a 100644
--- a/commodore/catalog.py
+++ b/commodore/catalog.py
@@ -38,8 +38,7 @@ def _render_catalog_commit_msg(cfg):
     config_commits = [_pretty_print_config_commit(c, r) for c, r in cfg.get_configs().items()]
     config_commits = '\n'.join(config_commits)
 
-    return f"""
-Automated catalog update from Commodore
+    return f"""Automated catalog update from Commodore
 
 Component commits:
 {component_commits}
diff --git a/tests/test_catalog.py b/tests/test_catalog.py
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..086b888ba
--- /dev/null
+++ b/tests/test_catalog.py
@@ -0,0 +1,14 @@
+"""
+Tests for catalog internals
+"""
+
+from commodore.catalog import _render_catalog_commit_msg
+from commodore.config import Config
+
+
+def test_catalog_commit_message():
+    config = Config("https://syn.example.com", "token", "ssh://git@git.example.com", False)
+
+    commit_message = _render_catalog_commit_msg(config)
+    assert not commit_message.startswith('\n')
+    assert commit_message.startswith('Automated catalog update from Commodore\n\n')