ship-it

name	ship-it
description	Create branch, commit, push, and open a pull request. Use when: user says "ship it", "ship this", "create a PR", "open a PR", "push and PR", or wants to go from uncommitted changes to an open pull request.
license	MIT
compatibility	Requires git and GitHub CLI (gh) with authentication
metadata	{"author":"Gregory Murray","repository":"github.com/whatifwedigdeeper/agent-skills","version":"0.3"}

Ship: Branch, Commit, Push & PR

Arguments

Optional text to derive branch name, commit message, or PR title (e.g. fix login timeout).

If $ARGUMENTS is help, --help, -h, or ?, skip the workflow and read references/options.md.

Process

1. Preflight Checks

git status
git branch --show-current
DEFAULT_BRANCH=$(git symbolic-ref refs/remotes/origin/HEAD 2>/dev/null | sed 's@^refs/remotes/origin/@@')
# Fallback if origin/HEAD is unset
if [ -z "$DEFAULT_BRANCH" ]; then
  DEFAULT_BRANCH=$(git remote show origin 2>/dev/null | grep 'HEAD branch' | sed 's/.*: //')
fi
git diff --stat
git diff --stat --cached
gh auth status

Determine:

• What is the default branch? (detect from remote ref, do not assume main)
• Are there changes to commit? (If no staged or unstaged changes, abort with message)
• Are we on the default branch? (If so, need to create a branch)
• Are we already on a feature branch?
• Is gh CLI installed and authenticated? (If not, abort: "Install and authenticate the GitHub CLI: https://cli.github.com")
• Are we in detached HEAD state? (If so, create a branch before proceeding)

2. Create Branch (if needed)

Skip this step if already on a feature branch — use the current branch.

If on the default branch or in detached HEAD, create and switch to a new branch:

git checkout -b <branch-name>

Branch naming:

• If user provided $ARGUMENTS, derive branch name from it (kebab-case, e.g. fix/handle-null-response)
• Otherwise, analyze the changes and generate a descriptive branch name
• Use prefixes: feat/, fix/, refactor/, docs/, chore/, test/ based on change type
• If a remote branch with the same name already exists, append a short suffix (e.g. -2)

3. Stage & Commit

Stage specific files rather than using git add -A.

git add <file1> <file2> ...
git diff --cached --name-only

Analyze the diff and generate a conventional commit message. If user provided $ARGUMENTS that looks like a commit message, use it directly.

git commit -m "type: description"

Commit fallbacks:

• If commit fails due to GPG signing errors (sandbox or keyring issues), retry with --no-gpg-sign
• If heredoc syntax ($(cat <<'EOF'...)) fails with "can't create temp file", use multiple -m flags instead (e.g. git commit -m "subject" -m "body")

4. Push

git push -u origin <branch-name>

If push fails due to branch protection or permissions, report the error to the user and stop.

5. Create Pull Request

Gather context for the PR description:

git log <default-branch>..HEAD --oneline
git diff <default-branch>..HEAD --stat

Check for an existing PR on this branch:

if gh pr view --json url,title,body > /dev/null 2>&1; then
  gh pr view --json url,title,body
fi

If a PR already exists:

1. Compare the current PR title and body against all commits on the branch (git log <default-branch>..HEAD --oneline)
2. If the title or body no longer reflects the full set of changes (e.g. new commits were added), update them with gh pr edit <number> --title "<new title>" --body "<new body>"
3. Report the PR URL and any updates made, then jump to Step 6

Otherwise, create the PR:

gh pr create --title "<title>" --body "$(cat <<'EOF'
## Summary
- [2-3 bullet points describing the changes]

## Test Plan
- [ ] [How to test these changes]

---
Generated with [agent name and link, per agent conventions]
EOF
)"

If gh pr create fails, report the error to the user (common causes: missing repo permissions, network issues, branch protection rules).

Title: If user provided $ARGUMENTS, use as PR title. Otherwise generate from the commit(s).

6. Report

Output:

• Branch name
• Commit hash and message
• PR URL

Rules

• Never commit files that look like secrets (.env, credentials, keys, tokens, private keys, build artifacts)
• If there are merge conflicts with the default branch, warn the user before creating the PR
• No sandbox: This skill uses branch-based isolation. Git and gh commands require access to the macOS keyring and credential helpers.