git-workflow

name	git-workflow
description	Niels's personal git aliases and custom scripts for branch management, PR workflows, multi-repo operations and log visualisation. Use these commands instead of raw git when working in his environment.
allowed-tools	["bash"]

Git workflow

Branch and PR lifecycle

Branches always get a datestamp suffix (e.g. my-branch-2026-04-22-10-00-00). Always use these commands instead of plain git checkout -b or git push.

Goal	Command
Create a new branch and push it	git create-branch <name> [base]
Update a branch from base (rebase + force push)	git update-branch [branch] [base]
Fast-forward merge into base, delete branch	git merge-branch [branch] [base]
Squash all commits then merge into base	git squash-and-merge-branch [branch] [base]
Squash all commits on current branch (stays on branch)	git squash-branch [branch] [base]
Delete branch locally and remotely	git delete-branch [branch] [base]

All commands default [branch] to the current branch and [base] to the remote HEAD branch (usually main).

Amending the last commit

git amend   # stages current changes and amends without editing the message

Cloning into ~/repos

git clone-repo <url>   # clones into ~/repos/<host>/<org>/<repo>

Log visualisation

git lg    # pretty graph log for current branch (coloured, signed status, relative time)
git lga   # same but all branches
git livelog [args]  # auto-refreshing graph log, updates every second

Multi-repo operations (run from a parent directory)

git pull-all [dir]    # pulls all git repos under dir (default: current dir)
git status-all [dir]  # fetches and shows branch/dirty status for all repos
git remote-all [dir]  # lists remotes for all repos

Diff tool

git d   # alias for git difftool

Generating .gitignore

git ignore <language>[,<language>]   # fetches .gitignore template from gitignore.io
# e.g. git ignore go,macos

Background sync / notifications

git sync               # polls every 60s, sends macOS notification when commits are available to pull
git sync-submodules    # same but fetches submodules instead

Usage guidance

• When creating any branch for a PR, always use git create-branch <name>.
• Do not use branch prefixes (e.g. feat/, fix/, chore/, niels/). Pass a plain descriptive name; the datestamp suffix is added automatically.
• When updating a branch with upstream changes, use git update-branch.
• Before merging, prefer git squash-and-merge-branch to keep a clean history.
• For multi-repo operations (e.g. pulling all services), use git pull-all or git status-all from the parent directory.

Commit messages and pull request titles/descriptions

Follow the Coop Norge version control guidelines at https://github.com/coopnorge/guidelines/blob/main/docs/version_control/index.md#commit-messages-and-pull-request-titles-and-descriptions.

Before authoring any commit message or PR title/body, fetch the current guidelines via the GitHub MCP server (these guidelines evolve — do not rely on cached knowledge):

• Use the github-mcp-server-get_file_contents tool with owner: coopnorge, repo: guidelines, path: docs/version_control/index.md, and read the "Commit Messages and pull request titles and descriptions" and "Conventional commits" sections.
• Apply those rules to every commit message, PR title, and PR body you produce in this environment.

Always include the Copilot co-author trailer at the bottom of commit messages:

Co-authored-by: Copilot <[e-mail]>