diff --git a/.idea/encodings.xml b/.idea/encodings.xml
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..15a15b2
--- /dev/null
+++ b/.idea/encodings.xml
@@ -0,0 +1,4 @@
+<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
+<project version="4">
+  <component name="Encoding" addBOMForNewFiles="with NO BOM" />
+</project>
\ No newline at end of file
diff --git a/Gopkg.lock b/Gopkg.lock
index cdfcf05..6c01b27 100644
--- a/Gopkg.lock
+++ b/Gopkg.lock
@@ -25,6 +25,12 @@
   revision = "5420a8b6744d3b0345ab293f6fcba19c978f1183"
   version = "v2.2.1"
 
+[[projects]]
+  name = "livingit.de/code/go-hookhelper"
+  packages = ["."]
+  revision = "8271b504d319691690f673cd07e05be638d95df4"
+  version = "0.1.0"
+
 [[projects]]
   name = "livingit.de/code/versioned"
   packages = ["."]
@@ -34,6 +40,6 @@
 [solve-meta]
   analyzer-name = "dep"
   analyzer-version = 1
-  inputs-digest = "67d9f4ba14859b517224764934a28345465d5fcb14925413d070c02d6a3d19c0"
+  inputs-digest = "91c02958be7074fa146ce76e315828829f294a46ff85ebcb52c3262539443bb7"
   solver-name = "gps-cdcl"
   solver-version = 1
diff --git a/Gopkg.toml b/Gopkg.toml
index 4dc3569..c4125ca 100644
--- a/Gopkg.toml
+++ b/Gopkg.toml
@@ -41,6 +41,10 @@
   name = "gopkg.in/yaml.v2"
   version = "2.2.1"
 
+[[constraint]]
+  name = "livingit.de/code/go-hookhelper"
+  version = "0.1.0"
+
 [prune]
   go-tests = true
   unused-packages = true
diff --git a/README.md b/README.md
index 6b89cea..52d9c05 100644
--- a/README.md
+++ b/README.md
@@ -65,6 +65,7 @@ Essentially this just removes the hook, so it would remove any other hook also.
 
 |Version|Description|
 |---|---|
+|0.8.0|add support for Co-authored-by|
 |0.7.0|rename binary|
 |0.6.2|code quality improvements|
 |0.6.1|code quality improvements|
diff --git a/hook/v2/validate_body.go b/hook/v2/validate_body.go
index f41a953..c7789c5 100644
--- a/hook/v2/validate_body.go
+++ b/hook/v2/validate_body.go
@@ -1,11 +1,18 @@
 package v2
 
-import "fmt"
+import (
+	"fmt"
+	"strings"
+)
 
 // validateBody runs all rules for a commit message body
 func (cfg *Configuration) validateBody(commitMessage []string) bool {
 	result := true
 	for _, line := range commitMessage {
+		if strings.HasPrefix(line, "Co-authored-by") {
+			fmt.Println("Co-authored-by found, not checking line length")
+			continue
+		}
 		if len(line) > cfg.BodyLineLength {
 			if cfg.EnforceBodyLineLength {
 				result = false
diff --git a/hook/v2/validate_body_test.go b/hook/v2/validate_body_test.go
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..f2db558
--- /dev/null
+++ b/hook/v2/validate_body_test.go
@@ -0,0 +1,48 @@
+package v2
+
+import "testing"
+
+func TestLineLengthLastLine(t *testing.T) {
+	body := []string{
+		"this is a normal length line",
+		"01234567890123456789012345678901234567890123456789012345678901234567890123456789",
+	}
+	cfg := &Configuration{
+		BodyLineLength:        72,
+		EnforceBodyLineLength: true,
+	}
+	if cfg.validateBody(body) {
+		t.Log("line is too long, validation did not get it")
+		t.Fail()
+	}
+}
+
+func TestLineLengthFirstLine(t *testing.T) {
+	body := []string{
+		"01234567890123456789012345678901234567890123456789012345678901234567890123456789",
+		"this is a normal length line",
+	}
+	cfg := &Configuration{
+		BodyLineLength:        72,
+		EnforceBodyLineLength: true,
+	}
+	if cfg.validateBody(body) {
+		t.Log("line is too long, validation did not get it")
+		t.Fail()
+	}
+}
+
+func TestLineLengthCoAuthored(t *testing.T) {
+	body := []string{
+		"this is a normal length line",
+		"Co-authored-by: This is the name <this-is-a-long@email-address-to-get-over71.de>",
+	}
+	cfg := &Configuration{
+		BodyLineLength:        72,
+		EnforceBodyLineLength: true,
+	}
+	if !cfg.validateBody(body) {
+		t.Log("co-authored lines should not be enforced to be max characters long")
+		t.Fail()
+	}
+}
diff --git a/vendor/livingit.de/code/go-hookhelper/README.md b/vendor/livingit.de/code/go-hookhelper/README.md
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..026800e
--- /dev/null
+++ b/vendor/livingit.de/code/go-hookhelper/README.md
@@ -0,0 +1,9 @@
+# helper methods for git-hook projects
+
+some common helper methods used across git hook projects
+
+## History
+
+|Version|Description|
+|---|---|
+|0.1.0|Initial version|
\ No newline at end of file
diff --git a/vendor/livingit.de/code/go-hookhelper/optimistic_version.go b/vendor/livingit.de/code/go-hookhelper/optimistic_version.go
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..cde4d68
--- /dev/null
+++ b/vendor/livingit.de/code/go-hookhelper/optimistic_version.go
@@ -0,0 +1,24 @@
+package hookhelper
+
+import "errors"
+
+// OptimisticVersion returns the calculated optimistic version
+func OptimisticVersion(global, local []byte, globalVersion, localVersion string) (string, error) {
+	if nil != global {
+		if nil != local && localVersion != "" {
+			if localVersion == globalVersion && globalVersion == "" {
+				return "", errors.New("you have to provide versions for global and local config")
+			}
+			if localVersion != globalVersion {
+				return "", errors.New("version mismatch for global and project version")
+			}
+		}
+		return globalVersion, nil
+	}
+
+	if nil != local {
+		return localVersion, nil
+	}
+
+	return "", errors.New("no suitable versioned configuration found")
+}