git-discipline

name	git-discipline
description	Use before starting work, after reaching any working state, at session end, and when the user asks to undo or go back — keeps every change recoverable and the history readable.
version	3

Git Discipline

The repo is local-only. Branches are an undo mechanism here, not a review mechanism. History is the backup — treat it that way.

Rules

• main is the working branch; commit directly for routine work.
• Commit at every working state — "working" means the project's own checks pass, not merely that the file was saved. Small commits beat big ones.
• Message format: first line = what changed for the tool; body = why, when the why isn't obvious. English. Written so a future session — or a hired developer — can follow the history without asking anyone.
• Risky or experimental work: branch first (git checkout -b try-<thing>), merge when it works. Abandoned experiment: journal it (what was tried, why abandoned — journaling skill), then delete the branch. (git branch -D — under the template's stock allowlist this shows a permission box by design; tell the user in one plain sentence what is being deleted and why before confirming.)
• Docs, CHANGELOG and index updates go in the SAME commit as the change they describe.
• Session end = clean tree (git status shows nothing) and a journal entry. Genuinely half-done work: commit it on a branch named wip-<thing> with a commit message starting wip: plus a journal entry saying exactly where it stands.
• Never rewrite history: no reset --hard, no --amend (not even on the latest commit), no force anything. A wrong commit is fixed by a new commit.

Explaining git to the user

Only when they need to care. "I save a snapshot after every change, so we can always go back" covers most conversations. Never make the user run git commands.