Git Workflow Skill

When to Use

• Creating new branches
• Writing commit messages
• Creating pull requests
• Resolving merge conflicts
• Managing branch history

Branch Creation

Format

<branch_type>/<branch_name>

Common Branch Types

Process

# 1. Ensure you're on main branch
git checkout master
git pull origin master

# 2. Create feature branch
git checkout -b feature/user-authentication

# 3. Work on changes...

# 4. Push branch
git push -u origin feature/user-authentication

Commit Messages

Format

[OPTIONAL-REFERENCE] Verb subject description

Allowed Verbs

• Add - New functionality
• Fix - Bug fixes
• Update - Changes to existing code
• Remove - Removing code/files
• Improve - Enhancements
• Migrate - Data migrations
• Revert - Reverting changes

Examples

# Simple commit
git commit -m "Add user authentication system"

# With issue reference
git commit -m "[PROJ-123] Fix login error handling"

# Multi-line
git commit -m "Add user profile component

Implements profile editing with avatar upload.
Includes form validation and error states."

Rules

• Verb in PascalCase
• Max 100 characters for header
• No trailing punctuation
• Subject required after verb

Pull Request Creation

Pre-PR Checklist

• Code follows style guidelines
• Tests pass locally
• No console.log statements
• No commented-out code
• Branch is up to date with base

Using GitHub CLI

# Create PR interactively
gh pr create

# Create PR with details
gh pr create \
  --title "Add user authentication" \
  --body "## Summary
Implements JWT authentication.

## Changes
- Add login endpoint
- Add token refresh
- Add protected routes

## Test Plan
1. Login with valid credentials
2. Verify token stored
3. Access protected route"

# Create draft PR
gh pr create --draft

PR Size Guidelines

• < 400 lines: Ideal, easy to review
• 400-800 lines: Consider splitting
• > 800 lines: Must split into smaller PRs

History Management

Interactive Rebase

# Rebase last 3 commits
git rebase -i HEAD~3

# Actions:
# pick - use commit
# reword - edit message
# squash - combine with previous
# fixup - combine, discard message
# drop - remove commit

Fixup Commits

# Create fixup for specific commit
git commit --fixup <commit-hash>

# Auto-squash when rebasing
git rebase -i --autosquash HEAD~5

Keep Branch Updated

git fetch origin
git rebase origin/master

# Force push if needed (only on feature branches!)
git push --force-with-lease

Checklist for Git Operations

Creating Branch

• Start from updated master/main
• Use correct branch type prefix
• Use kebab-case for branch name

Creating Commit

• Use allowed verb in PascalCase
• Message describes what AND why
• No WIP commits in final PR

Creating PR

• All tests pass
• PR description complete
• Linked to issues if applicable
• Requested reviewers