refinery-merge

name	refinery-merge
description	DMA merge queue pattern for sequential, deterministic merge request processing. Checks out branches, rebases onto main, runs tests, merges, and pushes. Never auto-resolves conflicts.
type	skill
category	workflow
status	stable
origin	tibsfox
modified	false
first_seen	"2026-03-06T00:00:00.000Z"
first_path	.claude/skills/refinery-merge/SKILL.md
superseded_by	null

Refinery Merge

Sequential merge queue processor for completed polecat branches. The refinery is the DMA controller of the Gastown chipset -- it moves data (code changes) from producer (polecat branches) to consumer (main branch) without CPU (mayor) intervention during normal operations. The pipeline is deterministic: checkout, rebase, test, merge, push. Merge conflicts block the queue and escalate; they are never auto-resolved.

Activation Triggers

This skill activates when:

• The merge queue has pending merge requests from completed polecats
• A polecat calls done and its branch needs to be merged into main
• The refinery is assigned to process a rig's merge queue
• Merge queue depth exceeds a threshold and processing is needed

Core Capabilities

Sequential MR Processing

The refinery processes merge requests one at a time in strict FIFO order. No parallel merges. No priority reordering. The queue is a pipeline, not a pool.

Queue processing loop:

const state = new StateManager({ stateDir: '.chipset/state/' });

async function processQueue(): Promise<void> {
  // Get pending MRs in FIFO order
  const pending = await listMergeRequests('pending');

  if (pending.length === 0) {
    // Queue empty -- nothing to process
    return;
  }

  // Process the oldest MR first (strict FIFO)
  const mr = pending[0];
  await processMergeRequest(mr);
}

Rebase-Test-Merge Pipeline

Each merge request flows through a five-stage pipeline. Every stage must succeed before advancing to the next.

CHECKOUT        REBASE          TEST            MERGE           PUSH
   |               |              |               |               |
   v               v              v               v               v
get branch -> rebase onto  -> run tests  -> merge to main -> push remote
              current main    (if configured)                close bead