name: git-workflow description: Git and GitHub workflow best practices. Use for commits, branches, PRs, merging, and version control operations.

Git Workflow Skill

Git best practices for version control, branching strategies, and GitHub collaboration.

When to Use This Skill

• Creating commits with proper messages
• Managing branches
• Creating and reviewing pull requests
• Resolving merge conflicts
• Git history management

📝 Commit Messages

Conventional Commits Format

<type>(<scope>): <subject>

[optional body]

[optional footer(s)]

Commit Types

Examples

# Feature
feat(auth): add JWT token refresh mechanism

# Bug fix
fix(proxy): resolve connection leak in upstream handler

# With body
feat(api): add rate limiting for /v1/chat endpoint

Implements token bucket algorithm with configurable
rate and burst size. Limits are per API key.

Closes #123

# Breaking change
feat(config)!: change yaml config structure

BREAKING CHANGE: config.yaml format changed.
See migration guide in docs/migration-v2.md

🌳 Branching Strategy

Git Flow

main (production)
  │
  └── develop (integration)
        │
        ├── feature/user-auth
        ├── feature/dashboard
        ├── fix/login-bug
        └── release/v1.2.0
              │
              └── hotfix/critical-fix → main

Branch Naming

# Features
feature/add-user-authentication
feature/JIRA-123-dashboard-charts

# Bug fixes
fix/login-validation-error
fix/JIRA-456-memory-leak

# Releases
release/v1.2.0
release/2024-01-sprint

# Hotfixes
hotfix/critical-security-patch

🔄 Pull Request Workflow

Creating a PR

# 1. Create feature branch
git checkout -b feature/my-feature develop

# 2. Make commits
git add .
git commit -m "feat: implement feature"

# 3. Push and create PR
git push -u origin feature/my-feature

# 4. Create PR via GitHub CLI
gh pr create --title "feat: implement feature" \
  --body "Description of changes" \
  --base develop

PR Template

## Summary
Brief description of changes

## Type of Change
- [ ] Bug fix
- [ ] New feature
- [ ] Breaking change
- [ ] Documentation update

## Changes Made
- Change 1
- Change 2

## Testing
- [ ] Unit tests added/updated
- [ ] Integration tests pass
- [ ] Manual testing completed

## Screenshots (if UI changes)

## Checklist
- [ ] Code follows style guidelines
- [ ] Self-reviewed
- [ ] Comments added for complex logic
- [ ] Documentation updated

Merging Strategies

# Squash merge (recommended for features)
# Combines all commits into one clean commit
gh pr merge --squash

# Merge commit (for releases)
# Preserves full history
gh pr merge --merge

# Rebase (for small changes)
# Linear history, no merge commit
gh pr merge --rebase

🔧 Common Git Operations

Stashing Changes

# Save current work
git stash save "WIP: feature description"

# List stashes
git stash list

# Apply most recent stash
git stash pop

# Apply specific stash
git stash apply stash@{2}

# Clear all stashes
git stash clear

Rebasing

# Interactive rebase last 5 commits
git rebase -i HEAD~5

# Rebase onto main
git rebase main

# Continue after resolving conflicts
git rebase --continue

# Abort rebase
git rebase --abort

Cherry-picking

# Apply specific commit to current branch
git cherry-pick abc123

# Cherry-pick without committing
git cherry-pick --no-commit abc123

# Cherry-pick range
git cherry-pick abc123..def456

Undoing Changes

# Undo last commit (keep changes)
git reset --soft HEAD~1

# Undo last commit (discard changes)
git reset --hard HEAD~1

# Revert a commit (creates new commit)
git revert abc123

# Restore file to last commit
git checkout -- filename

# Unstage file
git reset HEAD filename

🔀 Merge Conflict Resolution

Process

# 1. Update your branch
git fetch origin
git rebase origin/main

# 2. If conflicts occur, resolve them
# Edit conflicting files, then:
git add resolved-file.go
git rebase --continue

# 3. Force push (if rebased)
git push --force-with-lease

Conflict Markers

<<<<<<< HEAD
Your changes
=======
Their changes
>>>>>>> feature-branch

Tips

• Keep changes focused and PRs small
• Rebase frequently to avoid large conflicts
• Use git mergetool for complex conflicts
• Communicate with team before force pushing

📊 Git History Management

Viewing History

# Pretty log
git log --oneline --graph --all

# Show changes in commits
git log -p -3

# Search commits by message
git log --grep="fix"

# Show commits by author
git log --author="name"

# Show files changed
git log --stat

Finding Bugs with Bisect

# Start bisect
git bisect start

# Mark current as bad
git bisect bad

# Mark known good commit
git bisect good v1.0.0

# Git checks out middle commit, test it, then:
git bisect good  # or git bisect bad

# When done
git bisect reset

🏷️ Tagging Releases

# Create annotated tag
git tag -a v1.2.0 -m "Release version 1.2.0"

# Push tags
git push origin v1.2.0
git push --tags

# List tags
git tag -l "v1.*"

# Delete tag
git tag -d v1.2.0
git push origin --delete v1.2.0

📚 References

• Conventional Commits
• Git Flow
• fvadicamo/dev-agent-skills
• obra/finishing-a-development-branch
• obra/using-git-worktrees