finishing-a-development-branch

name	finishing-a-development-branch
description	Complete a development branch before merge — verify tests pass, update documentation, ensure quality gate passes, and prepare a clean PR.

Finishing a Development Branch

Complete all final steps before merging a feature branch.

Announce at start: "I'm using the finishing-a-development-branch skill."

Checklist (Complete in Order)

1. Verify Tests Pass

npm test           # or pytest, go test, cargo test
npm run test:coverage

• All tests must pass (no skips, no TODOs in critical paths)
• Coverage must be ≥ 80%
• If tests fail → stop and fix before continuing

2. Verify Build

npm run build      # or go build ./..., cargo build --release
npx tsc --noEmit

• Build must succeed with zero errors

3. Quality Gate

• Run /quality-gate (code review + security review in parallel)
• Block MUST be resolved before merge
• Warn can merge with documented issue

4. Clean Up

• Remove all console.log and debug statements
• Remove all commented-out code
• Remove all TODO/FIXME without issue references

5. Update Documentation

• Update CLAUDE.md or README.md if setup changed
• Run doc-updater agent if codemaps are out of date
• Update CHANGELOG if project uses one

6. Prepare PR

git log --oneline [base-branch]..HEAD    # Review all commits
git diff [base-branch]...HEAD            # Review all changes

Write PR body with:

• Summary (3-5 bullet points of what changed and why)
• Test plan (checkboxes for manual verification steps)
• Screenshots if UI changed

7. Final Commit

• All changes staged and committed
• Commit message follows conventional format
• Branch is up to date with base

Hard Rules

• Never merge with failing tests
• Never merge with CRITICAL review findings
• Never merge to main/master directly (use PR)
• Never skip the quality gate

The branch is done when every checkbox above is checked.