| name | push-gate |
| description | Pre-push safety gate for any git push to a remote (GitHub, GitLab, Bitbucket, self-hosted). Runs gitleaks + regex-layer secret scan, forbidden-file check, divergence check, size warning, and requires explicit confirm before pushing. Refuses on any secret hit. Triggers on: push to origin, push to github, push to remote, git push, can we push, safe to push, ready to push, pre-push check, push-gate. |
| license | MIT |
| allowed-tools | Read Bash Glob Grep |
| metadata | {"author":"claude-mods","related-skills":"git-ops, security-ops"} |
Push Gate
Formalised pre-push safety check. Runs before every git push <remote> where the remote is not a local file path. Refuses on secret hits; warns on size/forbidden-file; confirms intent before pushing.
Use this skill whenever the user asks to push, or before Claude runs git push to any remote. Complements git-ops (which handles the push itself) — this is the gate that runs immediately before.
Hard rules
- Gitleaks is a required dependency. If not installed, emit the install instructions and refuse. Do not silently fall back to regex-only.
- Any secret-scanner hit ⇒ refuse. No bypass flag. Force the user to rewrite history and re-invoke the gate.
- Never
--force push. The gate never passes a force flag. If the user needs to force-push, that's a separate conversation with explicit authorization.
- Never
--no-verify. Don't skip hooks.
- Working tree must be clean. Refuse on dirty tree (uncommitted work could be accidentally stashed into the push flow).
- Remote must be named. Refuse if
git push is called without an explicit remote and branch.
Workflow
Step 1 → Identify remote + branch
Step 2 → git fetch <remote>
Step 3 → Verify working tree clean
Step 4 → Compute pending commits (count + list)
Step 5 → Check divergence (non-ff ⇒ require user to rebase first)
Step 6 → Secret scan ────────┐
Step 7 → Forbidden-file scan │ refuse on any hit
Step 8 → Size advisory │
Step 9 → Explicit confirm │
Step 10 → git push <remote> <branch>
Step 11 → Post-push verify (ls-remote matches pushed SHA)
Invocation
bash .claude/skills/push-gate/scripts/preflight.sh <remote> <branch>
bash $HOME/.claude/skills/push-gate/scripts/preflight.sh --cwd <repo-root> <remote> <branch>
--cwd must precede the positional arguments. When omitted, the script operates against $PWD.
The script prints a structured report and exits with:
| Exit code | Meaning | What Claude does |
|---|
| 0 | All gates passed; ready for push | Ask user to confirm, then git push <remote> <branch> |
| 1 | Secret-scanner hit | Report to user; refuse; suggest git filter-repo / BFG |
| 2 | Forbidden file added (.env, key files, .claude/settings.local.json, worktree paths, etc.) | Report; refuse |
| 3 | Dirty working tree | Report; ask user to commit or stash first |
| 4 | Non-ff divergence | Report; ask user to rebase or merge first |
| 5 | Missing dependency (gitleaks) | Report install instructions; refuse |
| 6 | No remote specified / unknown remote | Report; ask for clarification |
Dependencies
| Tool | Purpose | Install |
|---|
| gitleaks (required) | Secret detection with maintained rule corpus | Windows: scoop install gitleaks or winget install gitleaks.gitleaks / macOS: brew install gitleaks / Linux: apt install gitleaks or binary from https://github.com/gitleaks/gitleaks/releases |
| ripgrep (required) | Regex fallback layer + forbidden-file scan | Usually pre-installed; winget install BurntSushi.ripgrep.MSVC / brew install ripgrep |
| git ≥ 2.30 | Core operations | Standard |
Both secret layers must pass: gitleaks detects known token formats with a maintained corpus; the regex layer catches generic password = "..." / DSN / connection-string patterns that gitleaks may miss. See references/secret-patterns.txt for the regex corpus.
Trigger phrases
| User intent | Triggers |
|---|
| Direct | "push to origin", "push to github", "push to remote", "git push" |
| Question | "can we push?", "safe to push?", "ready to push?" |
| Explicit | /push-gate, "run push-gate" |
Claude should invoke scripts/preflight.sh on any of these. Do not invoke on local pushes (git push <path> or git push .) — those are the updateInstead pattern for cross-worktree landings and don't leave the host.
False-positive handling
The regex layer filters common false positives automatically (env-var references, shell fallbacks, placeholders with ...). Gitleaks has its own .gitleaksignore file mechanism — add entries there for confirmed-safe findings, committed at repo root. The skill will not offer an inline bypass.
Not in scope
- Release automation (changelog, tagging, version bumps) — that's
ci-cd-ops / git-ops territory.
- Full security audit — that's
security-ops (broader SAST + dep scanning).
- Force-push / history rewriting — intentionally excluded; requires explicit out-of-band authorization.
- Signed-commit verification — add later if needed.
Files
| File | Role |
|---|
SKILL.md | This file — workflow + rules |
scripts/preflight.sh | Main orchestration (Steps 1–8) |
scripts/scan-secrets.sh | Gitleaks + regex layer (Step 6) |
references/secret-patterns.txt | Regex corpus + false-positive filter words |
assets/ | (empty; reserved for future report templates) |
