ship-branch

name	ship-branch
description	Create a branch, run local validation, create a PR and **merge** on main with staging deployed and draft releases created. Use when the user says "ship", "ship it", "ship this branch", "merge this", or wants to go from local branch to merged in one command. Stops at the first failure. Does NOT deploy to production — use /release-app after shipping.

Ship Branch

Orchestrate the full path from local branch to merged on main. This skill composes sub-skills in sequence, stopping at the first failure.

Note: This gets your code to main with staging deployed and draft releases created. Production deployment is a separate step via /release-app.

Markdown-only exception: If the entire PR diff is Markdown files only, and does not include CHANGELOG.md, the repo's Build, Test and Draft Release workflow is intentionally skipped by paths-ignore. In that case, do not wait for green CI and do not require /land-pr's E2E: Lite precondition. Run local validation, submit the PR as Ready, verify the PR is mergeable, merge it directly, and report CI/staging/draft releases as skipped by path filters.

Flow

validate-branch → FAIL → stop, report
     | PASS
submit-branch (as Ready, not Draft) → FAIL → stop, report
     | single CI run with E2E included
babysit-pr → EXHAUSTED → stop, "CI blocked"
     | GREEN (incl. E2E)
land-pr → BLOCKED → stop, report
     | MERGED
     done → suggest /release-app if production deploy is needed

Markdown-only flow:

validate-branch → FAIL → stop, report
     | PASS
submit-branch (as Ready, not Draft) → FAIL → stop, report
     | PR mergeable
merge directly → MERGED
     done → report CI/staging/draft releases skipped by path filters

Steps

Step 0: Create branch

If the current branch is main, create a new branch from it.

Step 1: Validate locally

Invoke /validate-branch. If it reports FAIL, stop and show the failure. Fix locally before shipping.

Step 2: Submit as PR — Ready, not Draft

Push the branch and create the PR as Ready for Review (omit --draft). Ship-branch means immediate landing intent — there's no iterative phase, so Draft would only generate a redundant ready_for_review event when we flip it, triggering two CI runs unnecessarily.

git push -u origin <branch>
gh pr create --base main --title "<title>" --body "..."

Note: /submit-branch defaults to Draft. Override it here by running gh pr create directly without --draft. If a PR already exists for the branch, check its draft state — if Draft, flip it Ready now (gh pr ready <PR>), then proceed.

On success, note the PR number and URL.

Step 3: Get CI green

Before invoking /babysit-pr, check whether the PR is Markdown-only:

gh pr diff <PR_NUMBER> --name-only

If every changed file ends in .md and none is CHANGELOG.md, skip /babysit-pr. The main workflow has paths-ignore for Markdown docs, so there is no green CI to wait for. Record CI: SKIPPED — markdown-only path filters.

Invoke /babysit-pr with the PR number from Step 2. It will monitor CI (E2E runs because the PR is Ready from the start), diagnose failures, attempt fixes (up to 3 retries), and report back.

If babysit-pr exhausts all 3 retry attempts, stop and report "CI blocked" with the babysit report.

Step 4: Land and verify

Confirm with the user before merging unless they explicitly said "ship it".

For non-Markdown changes, invoke /land-pr with the PR number. If merge is blocked, stop and report.

For Markdown-only changes, do not invoke /land-pr; its E2E precondition cannot be satisfied because CI is intentionally skipped. Instead:

1. Verify the PR is Ready, mergeable, and has no requested-changes review:

   gh pr view <PR_NUMBER> --json state,isDraft,mergeable,mergeStateStatus,reviewDecision,statusCheckRollup
   

2. Fetch the repo's enabled merge strategies and merge directly:

   MERGE_FLAG=$(gh api repos/ZenUml/conf-app \
     --jq 'if .allow_squash_merge and (.allow_merge_commit | not) and (.allow_rebase_merge | not) then "--squash"
           elif .allow_rebase_merge and (.allow_merge_commit | not) and (.allow_squash_merge | not) then "--rebase"
           else "--merge" end')
   
   gh pr merge <PR_NUMBER> --delete-branch $MERGE_FLAG
   

3. Verify the PR state is MERGED.
4. Report Staging and Draft releases as SKIPPED — markdown-only path filters.

On success, report the draft releases created and suggest /release-app if the user wants to go to production.

Rules

• Each step is a hard boundary. No step reaches back to retry a previous step.
• No auto-rollback. Stop and report on any failure. The developer decides next steps.
• Confirm before merge. Pause and confirm with the user before the land-pr step unless they explicitly said "ship it".

Output

Final report:

## Ship Report: <branch-name>
- Validation: PASS
- PR: #<number> (<url>)
- CI: GREEN
- Merge: SQUASHED into main (<sha>)
- Staging: Deployed (lite, full, diagramly)
- Draft releases: Created
- Production: Not yet — run /release-app to deploy to production

Markdown-only report:

## Ship Report: <branch-name>
- Validation: PASS
- PR: #<number> (<url>)
- CI: SKIPPED — markdown-only path filters
- Merge: MERGED into main (<sha>)
- Staging: SKIPPED — markdown-only path filters
- Draft releases: SKIPPED — markdown-only path filters
- Production: Not needed for docs-only changes

Or on failure:

## Ship Report: <branch-name>
- Validation: PASS
- PR: #<number>
- CI: FAILED — <job name>
- Stopped at: <step name>
- Details: <failure summary>