git-workflow

name	git-workflow
description	Use when choosing a Git branching strategy or handling merge vs rebase, conflicts, stashing, undoing mistakes, and release tagging — complementing the commit/PR conventions in the git rules.
license	MIT
metadata	{"author":"Petr Král (pekral.cz)"}

Constraints

• Commit, PR, and merge conventions live in @rules/git/general.mdc — English type(scope) commits, lowercase, no trailing period, no push to main, small focused commits, Closes # issue linking, English PR titles, rebase-and-merge, gh CLI. This skill does NOT restate them.
• Branch cleanup is owned by @skills/cleanup-local-branches/SKILL.md. Defer to it; do not duplicate.
• PR merging is owned by @skills/merge-github-pr/SKILL.md. Defer to it; do not duplicate.
• This skill covers only the complementary gaps below.

Use when

• Choosing or changing a branching strategy.
• Deciding merge vs rebase for a specific situation.
• Resolving a merge conflict.
• Stashing work in progress.
• Undoing a mistake (bad commit, wrong reset, accidental change).
• Cutting a release and tagging a version.

Branching strategies

GitHub Flow (simple, recommended for most)

main is always deployable. Branch from main, open a PR, merge after review and green CI, deploy. Best for SaaS and web apps with continuous deployment.

Trunk-based (high-velocity)

Everyone integrates into main via very short-lived branches (1–2 days). Incomplete work hides behind feature flags. CI must pass before merge. Needs strong CI/CD and discipline.

GitFlow (release-cycle driven)

main holds production code, develop is the integration branch, with release/* and hotfix/* branches. Heavyweight; only worth it for scheduled, regulated releases.

Strategy	Team size	Release cadence	Best for
GitHub Flow	any	continuous	SaaS, web apps, startups
Trunk-based	5+ experienced	multiple/day	high-velocity teams using feature flags
GitFlow	10+	scheduled	enterprise, regulated industries

Default to GitHub Flow unless the team has a concrete reason for another model. It aligns with the rebase-and-merge + short-focused-branches conventions in @rules/git/general.mdc.

Merge vs rebase mechanics

Merge (preserves history)

git checkout main
git merge feature/user-auth   # creates a merge commit

Use when preserving exact history matters or several people worked on the branch.

Rebase (linear history)

git checkout feature/user-auth
git fetch origin
git rebase origin/main         # replays your commits on top of main

Use to update your local branch with the latest main before opening or refreshing a PR. Keeps history linear.

# only if you are the sole contributor on the branch
git push --force-with-lease origin feature/user-auth

Always --force-with-lease, never plain --force.

Pull policy: sync a side branch before pulling it

@rules/git/general.mdc Pull Policy requires every non-default branch to be rebased onto the latest default branch so it always carries the newest default-branch history. The default branch is main on some repos and master on others — resolve it instead of hardcoding origin/main (which does not exist on a master-default repo and makes the command fail). Order matters: take the branch's own remote first, then rebase the default branch in, then force-push — do not pull again afterwards.

DEFAULT_BRANCH="$(git symbolic-ref --short refs/remotes/origin/HEAD | sed 's@^origin/@@')"
git checkout feature/user-auth
git fetch origin
git pull --rebase                     # 1) take the branch's own remote first
git rebase "origin/$DEFAULT_BRANCH"   # 2) bring the latest default branch in
# resolve conflicts if any, then: git rebase --continue
git push --force-with-lease           # 3) publish; do NOT git pull again — it would undo the rebase

If the rebase changed composer.lock (the default branch updated dependencies), reinstall before continuing so the installed packages match the new lockfile:

composer install                      # run only when composer.lock actually changed

The default branch itself is exempt — pull it directly with git pull. Read-only review skills are exempt too: they git pull only to read the diff and never rebase.

Never rebase shared/public history

Do NOT rebase a branch that has been pushed and that others may have based work on, nor any protected branch (main, develop), nor already-merged history. Rebase rewrites commits and breaks everyone downstream. For published branches, fix forward with git revert instead.

Conflict resolution

# 1. Trigger the conflict (or hit it during rebase/merge)
git status                       # lists conflicted files

# 2. Resolve each file. Conflict markers:
#    <<<<<<< HEAD ... ======= ... >>>>>>> feature/user-auth
#    Edit to the correct result and delete all three markers.

# Accept one whole side when appropriate:
git checkout --ours  path/to/file    # keep current branch version
git checkout --theirs path/to/file   # keep incoming version

# 3. Stage and finish
git add path/to/file
git commit            # for merge
# or
git rebase --continue # for rebase
# bail out entirely:  git merge --abort  /  git rebase --abort

Prevention: keep branches small and short-lived, rebase onto main frequently, and coordinate before touching shared files. After resolving, re-run the project checks (see below) before continuing.

Stash workflow

git stash push -m "wip: user auth"   # shelve tracked changes
git stash push -u -m "wip"           # include untracked files
git stash list
git stash pop                        # apply newest and drop it
git stash apply stash@{2}            # apply a specific stash, keep it
git stash drop stash@{0}

Undoing mistakes

# Undo the last commit, keep the changes staged
git reset --soft HEAD~1

# Undo the last commit AND discard the changes (destructive)
git reset --hard HEAD~1

# Reverse an already-pushed commit safely (public-history safe)
git revert <sha>

# Fix the last commit message
git commit --amend -m "feat(auth): correct subject"

# Add a forgotten file to the last commit (only before it is pushed)
git add forgotten-file
git commit --amend --no-edit

# Restore a single file to its committed state
git checkout HEAD -- path/to/file

Rule: reset --hard and --amend rewrite history — safe only on unpushed, local-only commits. Once pushed and shared, undo with revert.

Semantic versioning and release tagging

MAJOR.MINOR.PATCH: MAJOR for breaking changes, MINOR for backward-compatible features, PATCH for backward-compatible fixes.

git tag -a v1.2.0 -m "Release v1.2.0"   # annotated tag
git push origin v1.2.0
git tag -l                               # list tags
git tag -d v1.2.0 && git push origin --delete v1.2.0   # remove a tag

# Draft release notes from the commit range
git log v1.1.0..v1.2.0 --oneline --no-merges

Conventional type(scope) subjects from @rules/git/general.mdc make this changelog range readable.

Laravel .gitignore essentials

/vendor/
/node_modules/
.env
.env.*.local
/public/build
/storage/*.key
.phpunit.result.cache
.DS_Store

Never commit .env, the vendor/ or node_modules/ trees, the Vite build output in /public/build, or generated keys.

Hooks

If you wire a pre-commit or pre-push hook, run the project's own checks (the composer build / Composer scripts and the Pest suite), not ad-hoc tooling. The hook should fail the commit on any error, mirroring CI.

Defer to

• @rules/git/general.mdc — commit, PR, and merge conventions.
• @skills/cleanup-local-branches/SKILL.md — deleting stale local branches.
• @skills/merge-github-pr/SKILL.md — merging a ready PR.

Done when

• A branching strategy is chosen with a stated reason.
• Merge vs rebase is applied correctly and no shared/public history was rebased.
• A non-default branch was synced (own remote pulled, then the resolved default branch rebased in, then force-pushed — never hardcoding origin/main), and composer install was re-run whenever that rebase changed composer.lock.
• Conflicts are resolved with markers removed and project checks re-run.
• Any undo used the right tool for whether the commit was pushed.
• Releases are tagged with annotated semver tags pushed to origin.