branch-finishing

name	Branch Finishing
description	Guidance for verifying, presenting finish options, and closing feature branches safely.

Branch Finishing

Tests pass. Base determined. Options presented. Clean finish.

Triggers

• Feature implementation is complete and verified
• User says "finish this branch", "merge this", "create a PR", "we're done"
• After verification-before-completion confirms the work is done
• After executing-plans Phase 3 completes

HARD GATE: Pre-Finish Verification

Before presenting finish options, ALL of these must be true:

1. Tests pass: Full test suite runs green
2. No uncommitted changes: Working tree is clean (or changes are staged)
3. Branch is not main/master: You're on a feature/fix branch
4. Verification evidence exists: The work has been verified per verification-before-completion

If any condition fails, resolve it before proceeding.

4-Option Branch Finishing

After pre-flight checks pass, present exactly these 4 options:

Option 1: Merge to Base Branch

Best for: Completed features ready for integration
Steps:
  1. Determine base branch (main/master/develop)
  2. Rebase onto latest base: git fetch origin && git rebase origin/<base>
  3. Resolve any conflicts
  4. Fast-forward merge: git checkout <base> && git merge --ff-only <branch>
  5. Delete feature branch: git branch -d <branch>

Option 2: Create Pull Request

Best for: Team review required, CI/CD validation needed
Steps:
  1. Push branch to remote: git push -u origin <branch>
  2. Create PR with gh CLI:
     gh pr create --title "<concise title>" --body "<summary + test plan>"
  3. Return PR URL to user
  4. Do NOT delete branch (PR lifecycle manages it)

Option 3: Squash and Merge

Best for: Many small commits that should be one logical change
Steps:
  1. Determine base branch
  2. Interactive rebase to squash: git rebase -i origin/<base>
     (or: git reset --soft origin/<base> && git commit)
  3. Write comprehensive commit message
  4. Fast-forward merge to base
  5. Delete feature branch

Option 4: Discard Branch

Best for: Spike/experiment that won't be merged
Steps:
  1. CONFIRM with user: "This will delete all work on this branch. Proceed?"
  2. Switch to base: git checkout <base>
  3. Delete branch: git branch -D <branch>
  4. Clean up remote if pushed: git push origin --delete <branch>

Base Branch Detection

Determine the base branch automatically:

# Check for common base branches
git branch -a | grep -E '(main|master|develop)' | head -1

# Or check the branch this was created from
git log --oneline --first-parent <branch> ^main | tail -1

Priority: main > master > develop > ask user.

Integration

• Pre-finish checks use verification-before-completion
• PR creation follows /pr-prep command patterns
• Merge conflicts trigger /debug skill for resolution
• Worktree cleanup follows git-worktrees skill