git-workflow

name	git-workflow
description	Git — branching, commits, PR workflow, merge, release tagging.

Detect First

Before applying any convention, run:

git log --oneline -10

Look for the existing pattern in the project history:

• Conventional Commits: feat:, fix:, chore:, docs: prefixes
• GitHub Flow: plain imperative sentences, no prefix
• GitFlow: feature/, release/, hotfix/ branch names in merge commits
• Trunk-based: short-lived branches, frequent merges to main, feature flags

Always follow the project's established pattern. Only fall back to Conventional Commits if no pattern is detectable.

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Branch Naming

Prefix	Purpose	Lifetime	Merge target
feature/*	New functionality	Days to 1 sprint	main / develop
fix/*	Non-urgent bug fix	Hours to days	main / develop
hotfix/*	Urgent production fix	Hours	Release tag + main
release/*	Release stabilization	Days	main + tag
chore/*	Tooling, deps, config	Hours to days	main / develop

• Branch names: lowercase, hyphens only, no spaces (e.g., feature/user-auth-refresh).
• Keep names short but descriptive; include a ticket ID when the project uses one (e.g., fix/PROJ-123-null-pointer).

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Commit Messages

Follow skills/shared/conventional-commits/SKILL.md for format details. Key rules:

• One logical change per commit — never mix a feature and a bug fix in the same commit.
• Subject line: ≤ 72 characters; imperative mood ("add", not "added" or "adds").
• Body (optional): explain why, not what — the diff already shows what changed.
• No AI attribution lines (Co-Authored-By: Claude, Generated with …).

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Pull Request Rules

• Title: <type>: <what changed> (<why, if not obvious>) — mirrors the squash commit that will land on main.
• Description: include a short summary, test plan (checklist), and a link to the ticket or issue.
• No WIP PRs merged to main: use Draft PRs for work in progress; convert to ready only when CI is green.
• Self-review first: read your own diff before requesting review.
• Keep PRs small: prefer multiple focused PRs over one large one; large PRs get shallow reviews.

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Merge Strategy

Scenario	Strategy	Reason
Feature / fix branch → main	Squash merge	Clean, linear history; one commit per feature
Release branch → main	Merge commit	Preserves full release history
Hotfix → main	Merge commit	Traceability for post-incident review
Sync main → long-lived branch	Rebase	Avoids noisy merge commits mid-branch

• Never force-push to main or master.
• Delete the source branch after merge.

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Release Tagging

• Format: vMAJOR.MINOR.PATCH (semantic versioning).
• Tag only from main after CI passes.
• Annotated tags preferred: git tag -a v1.2.0 -m "Release v1.2.0".
• Push tag explicitly: git push origin v1.2.0.

Change type	Bump
Breaking change	MAJOR
New feature, backward-compatible	MINOR
Bug fix, patch, docs	PATCH

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Hotfix Flow

1. git checkout -b hotfix/v1.2.1 v1.2.0 — branch from the affected release tag, not from main.
2. Apply the minimal fix; commit.
3. Tag: v1.2.1.
4. Merge back to main with a merge commit.
5. Delete the hotfix branch.

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Protected Branch Requirements

main and master must enforce:

• Pull request required (no direct push).
• At least 1 approval from a reviewer who did not author the PR.
• All CI checks must pass before merge.
• No force-push.
• No deletion.