Git Collaboration Workflow — Modern Team Development

Modern Best Practices: GitHub Flow for continuous deployment, Trunk-Based for scale, conventional commits for automation, stacked diffs for large features

This skill provides modern Git collaboration patterns for high-performing engineering teams, covering branching strategies, pull request workflows, commit conventions, code review best practices, and release automation.

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When to Use This Skill

Invoke this skill when the user asks to:

• Design branching strategies for teams (GitHub Flow, Trunk-Based, GitFlow)
• Create pull request or merge request workflows
• Implement commit conventions (Conventional Commits, semantic versioning)
• Set up code review processes and quality gates
• Resolve merge conflicts or rebase issues
• Configure Git automation (GitHub Actions, GitLab CI PR checks)
• Implement stacked diffs workflows
• Design release management strategies
• Set up automated quality gates in CI/CD
• Create validation checklists for PRs and releases

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Quick Reference

Task	Tool/Command	When to Use	Reference
Create feature branch	git checkout -b feat/name main	Start new work	Branching Strategies
Squash WIP commits	git rebase -i HEAD~3	Clean up before PR	Interactive Rebase
Conventional commit	git commit -m "feat: add feature"	All commits	Commit Conventions
Force push safely	git push --force-with-lease	After rebase	Common Mistakes
Resolve conflicts	git mergetool	Merge conflicts	Conflict Resolution
Create stacked PRs	gt create stack-name (Graphite)	Large features	Stacked Diffs
Auto-generate changelog	npx standard-version	Before release	Release Management
Run quality gates	GitHub Actions / GitLab CI	Every PR	Automated Quality Gates

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Decision Tree: Choosing Branching Strategy

Use this decision tree to select the optimal branching strategy for your team based on team size, release cadence, and CI/CD maturity.

Team characteristics → What's your situation?
    ├─ Small team (1-5 devs) + Continuous deployment + High CI/CD maturity?
    │   └─ GitHub Flow (main + feature branches)
    │
    ├─ Medium team (5-15 devs) + Continuous deployment + High CI/CD maturity?
    │   └─ Trunk-Based Development (main + short-lived branches)
    │
    ├─ Large team (15+ devs) + Continuous deployment + Very high CI/CD maturity?
    │   └─ Trunk-Based + Feature Flags (progressive rollout)
    │
    ├─ Scheduled releases + Medium CI/CD maturity?
    │   └─ GitFlow (main + develop + release branches)
    │
    └─ Multiple versions + Low-Medium CI/CD maturity?
        └─ GitFlow (long-lived release branches)

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Navigation: Core Workflows

Branching Strategies

Branching Strategies Comparison - Comprehensive guide to choosing and implementing branching strategies

• GitHub Flow (recommended for modern teams): Simple, continuous deployment
• Trunk-Based Development (enterprise scale): Short-lived branches, daily merges
• GitFlow (structured releases): Scheduled releases, multiple versions
• Decision matrix: Team size, release cadence, CI/CD maturity
• Migration paths between strategies

Pull Request Best Practices

PR Best Practices Guide - Effective code reviews and fast PR cycles

• PR size guidelines: 200-400 lines optimal (46% faster merge)
• Review categories: BLOCKER, WARNING, NITPICK
• Review etiquette: Collaborative feedback, code examples
• PR description templates: What, Why, How, Testing
• Data-driven insights on review efficiency

Commit Conventions

Conventional Commits Standard - Commit message formats and semantic versioning integration

• Conventional commit format: type(scope): description
• Commit types: feat, fix, BREAKING CHANGE, refactor, docs
• SemVer automation: Auto-bump versions from commits
• Changelog generation: Automated from commit history
• Tools: commitlint, semantic-release, standard-version

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Navigation: Advanced Techniques

Stacked Diffs

Stacked Diffs Implementation - Platform-specific workflows and team adoption

• What are stacked diffs: Break large features into reviewable chunks
• When to use: Features > 500 lines, complex refactoring
• GitLab native support: MR chains
• GitHub with Graphite: CLI-based stacking
• Benefits: 60% faster review cycles, better quality

Interactive Rebase

Interactive Rebase & History Cleanup - Maintain clean commit history

• Auto-squash workflow: fixup! and squash! commits
• Interactive rebase commands: pick, reword, edit, squash, fixup, drop
• Splitting commits: Break large commits into focused changes
• Reordering commits: Logical commit history
• Best practices: Never rebase public branches

Conflict Resolution

Conflict Resolution Techniques - Merge strategies and conflict handling

• Resolution strategies: --ours, --theirs, manual merge
• Rebase vs merge: When to use each
• Merge tool setup: VS Code, Meld, custom tools
• Conflict markers: Understanding <<<<<<<, =======, >>>>>>>
• Prevention strategies: Frequent rebasing, small PRs

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Navigation: Automation & Quality

Automated Quality Gates

Automated Quality Gates - CI/CD pipelines and quality enforcement

• Essential gates: Tests, coverage, linting, security scans
• Advanced gates: Performance benchmarks, bundle size, a11y checks
• GitHub Actions workflows: Complete PR checks pipeline
• GitLab CI pipelines: MR quality gates
• Pre-commit hooks: Husky + lint-staged setup
• Quality metrics thresholds: Coverage 80%, complexity < 10

Validation Checklists

Validation Checklists - Pre-PR, pre-merge, pre-release checklists

• Before creating PR: Code quality, commit hygiene, testing
• Before merging PR: Review process, CI/CD checks, final verification
• Before releasing: Pre-release testing, version management, documentation
• Post-deployment: Immediate verification, monitoring, tasks
• Hotfix checklist: Critical bug fast-track process

Release Management

Release Management - Versioning and deployment workflows

• Semantic versioning: MAJOR.MINOR.PATCH
• Manual release workflow: GitFlow release branches
• Automated releases: semantic-release automation
• Hotfix workflow: Emergency patches
• Changelog generation: Keep a Changelog format
• Release checklists: Pre-release, release day, post-release

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Navigation: Learning & Troubleshooting

Common Mistakes

Common Mistakes & Fixes - Learn from common pitfalls

• Large unfocused PRs → Split into stacked diffs
• Vague commit messages → Use conventional commits
• Rewriting public history → Never rebase main
• Ignoring review comments → Address all feedback
• Committing secrets → Use environment variables
• Force push dangers → Use --force-with-lease

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Decision Tables

When to Use Each Branching Strategy

Requirement	GitHub Flow	Trunk-Based	GitFlow
Continuous deployment	✅ Best	✅ Best	❌ Poor
Scheduled releases	⚠️ OK	⚠️ OK	✅ Best
Multiple versions	❌ Poor	❌ Poor	✅ Best
Small team (< 5)	✅ Best	⚠️ OK	❌ Overkill
Large team (> 15)	⚠️ OK	✅ Best	⚠️ OK
Fast iteration	✅ Best	✅ Best	❌ Poor

PR Size vs Review Time

LOC	Review Time	Bug Detection	Recommendation
< 50	< 10 min	High	✅ Ideal for hotfixes
50-200	10-30 min	High	✅ Ideal for features
200-400	30-60 min	Medium-High	✅ Acceptable
400-1000	1-2 hours	Medium	⚠️ Consider splitting
> 1000	> 2 hours	Low	❌ Always split

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Related Skills

• Software Code Review - Code review standards and techniques
• Quality Debugging & Troubleshooting - Git bisect, debugging workflows
• DevOps Platform Engineering - CI/CD pipelines, automation
• Software Testing & Automation - Test-driven development, coverage gates
• Documentation Standards - Changelog formats, documentation workflows

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Usage Notes

For Claude Code:

• Recommend GitHub Flow for most modern teams (simple, effective)
• Suggest stacked diffs for features > 500 lines
• Always validate commit messages against conventional commit format
• Check PR size - warn if > 400 lines, block if > 1000 lines
• Reference templates/ for copy-paste ready configurations
• Use resources/ for deep-dive implementation guidance

Progressive Disclosure:

1. Start with Quick Reference for fast lookups
2. Use Decision Tree for choosing strategies
3. Navigate to specific resources for detailed implementation
4. Reference templates for production-ready configurations
5. Check validation checklists before PR/merge/release

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Quick Command Reference

Common Operations:

# Rebase feature branch
git fetch origin && git rebase origin/main

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

# Squash all commits in branch
git rebase -i $(git merge-base HEAD main)

# Force push safely
git push --force-with-lease origin feature-branch

# Undo last commit (keep changes)
git reset --soft HEAD~1

# Cherry-pick specific commit
git cherry-pick abc123

# Stash changes
git stash save "WIP: implementing feature X"
git stash pop

Conflict Resolution:

# Pull latest with rebase
git pull --rebase origin main

# Use visual merge tool
git mergetool

# Accept their changes
git checkout --theirs <file>

# Accept your changes
git checkout --ours <file>