the-controller-finishing-a-development-branch

name	the-controller-finishing-a-development-branch
description	Use when implementation is complete and you need to merge the branch — verifies tests, rebases, creates PR, squash merges, deletes remote branch, syncs local master, and closes the issue

Finishing a Development Branch

Step 1: Verify Tests

Run the project's test suite. If tests fail, fix them before proceeding.

Step 2: Execute Merge Workflow

1. Ensure all changes are committed before proceeding
2. Rebase onto master
3. Create a PR to master
4. Squash merge the PR (without --delete-branch to avoid worktree checkout errors):

   gh pr merge --squash
   

5. Delete the remote branch:

   git push origin --delete "$(git branch --show-current)"
   

6. Sync local master:

   # Find where master is checked out and pull there directly
   master_worktree=$(git worktree list | grep '\[master\]' | awk '{print $1}')
   if [ -n "$master_worktree" ]; then
     git -C "$master_worktree" pull origin master
   else
     git fetch origin master:master
   fi
   

7. Close the associated issue with a summary of what was done
8. If running inside The Controller (i.e. $THE_CONTROLLER_SESSION_ID is set), signal it to clean up this session's worktree. Syncing master (step 6) may trigger a dev server restart which temporarily kills the socket, so retry for up to 60 seconds:

   if [ -z "$THE_CONTROLLER_SESSION_ID" ]; then
     echo "ERROR: THE_CONTROLLER_SESSION_ID is not set, cannot signal cleanup"
   else
     for i in $(seq 1 30); do
       echo "cleanup:$THE_CONTROLLER_SESSION_ID" | nc -U -w 2 /tmp/the-controller.sock && break
       echo "Waiting for controller socket (attempt $i/30)..."
       sleep 2
     done
   fi
   

Integration

Called by:

• the-controller-subagent-driven-development (Step 7) - After all tasks complete
• the-controller-executing-plans (Step 5) - After all batches complete

Pairs with:

• the-controller-using-git-worktrees - Cleans up worktree created by that skill