git-workflow

name	git-workflow
description	Inspect and operate Git repositories safely: status, diffs, commits, branches, remotes, conflict recovery, submodules, GitHub CLI, and authenticated publication. Use for concrete Git or GitHub operations, not generic coding.

Git Workflow

Inspect first and preserve unrelated work. Existing changes belong to the user unless their provenance is known. This skill also absorbs the useful parts of Claude's commit-commands: exact commit preparation, optional commit/push/PR sequencing, and stale-branch cleanup. Those actions remain explicitly authorized operations, not automatic side effects.

Workflow

1. Resolve the exact repository root, current branch, worktree status, remotes, and nested repository/submodule boundaries.
2. Inspect scoped diffs before staging. Never use blanket staging when unrelated changes exist.
3. Run relevant validation before committing, then stage only intended paths and write a precise commit message. Review the staged diff before the commit.
4. Fetch before operations that depend on remote state. Use non-interactive commands and avoid rewriting shared history.
5. Push, open PRs, merge, publish releases, or modify remote state only when the user requested that external action. A request to “commit” does not by itself authorize push, PR creation, merge, or release publication.
6. Use git -C <repo> for nested repositories in automation so working-directory state cannot drift.
7. For conflicts, identify every conflicted path, edit deliberately, validate, then continue or abort. Never discard work to escape a conflict.
8. For an explicitly requested commit: confirm the exact paths, message, and staged diff; create one focused commit; then report its hash. For an explicitly requested push/PR: verify branch and remote, push non-destructively, create the PR with the requested title/body, and report the URL. Do not chain these operations without clear scope.
9. For stale branches or worktrees, list exact candidates and their tracking state first. Prefer a recoverable archive or a user-confirmed deletion. Never run a blanket git branch -D, delete a worktree with uncommitted changes, or remove a branch merely because it is absent from the remote.
10. Report branch, commit, pushed remote/PR when applicable, tests, and any remaining dirty paths.

Never run git reset --hard, force-push a shared branch, delete branches, discard worktree changes, or expose tokens without explicit scope and authorization. Prefer --force-with-lease only for the user’s own rewritten branch.

Read the detailed guide for command examples. Treat its historical paths as examples, not current machine truth. For GitHub authentication and token hygiene, read github-authentication.md. Development distributions may provide an additional private release reference; public builds intentionally omit it.