Summarizing Git Work By Author

Summarizing Git Work By Author

Overview

Use this skill to turn raw git history into a reliable author-based summary.

Default workflow:

• Confirm the scope: one repo or a directory containing many repos
• Confirm the branch scope: current branch or all local branches
• Confirm the time window and author match rule
• Run the bundled script for structured output
• If the author match is empty, list recent authors first and adjust the pattern
• Start from details, then derive a concise thematic summary for the user

When To Use

Use this skill when the user asks for:

• Recent work by a specific author
• A summary across multiple local repositories
• A branch-aware review of local work
• A report, weekly summary, or topic-based digest from commit history

Do not use this skill when:

• The user only wants the status of the current working tree
• The request is about code review rather than commit history

Core Rules

• The parent directory itself may not be a git repo. Check child repos before concluding there is no history.
• Author matching is often imperfect. If no commits match, run author discovery and check both name and email.
• State the counting rule explicitly:
  • Current branch mode avoids cross-branch duplication.
  • Local-branches mode can show the same commit in multiple branches.
• In local-branches mode, distinguish:
  • Per-branch visible commit counts
  • Repo-level unique commit counts across local branches
• Exclude merge commits by default unless the user asks for integration history.

Script

Run the bundled script. In the examples below, ${SKILL_DIR} refers to the directory containing this SKILL.md file — substitute it with the actual install path of this skill on your machine.

bash ${SKILL_DIR}/scripts/summarize_git_work.sh --help

Typical commands:

# Discover the exact author identity used in recent commits
bash ${SKILL_DIR}/scripts/summarize_git_work.sh \
  --root /path/to/repos \
  --since '1 week ago' \
  --list-authors

# Current-branch summary (auto-detects author from git config)
bash ${SKILL_DIR}/scripts/summarize_git_work.sh \
  --root /path/to/repos \
  --since '7 days ago'

# Human-readable report format (default max 10 commits per repo)
bash ${SKILL_DIR}/scripts/summarize_git_work.sh \
  --root /path/to/repos \
  --since '1 week ago' \
  --format report

# Per-branch details with commit limit
bash ${SKILL_DIR}/scripts/summarize_git_work.sh \
  --root /path/to/repos \
  --since '3 weeks ago' \
  --author-pattern 'your-name|your.email@example.com' \
  --mode local-branches \
  --format details \
  --max-commits 20

Output Interpretation

Structured formats (summary/details):

• REPO|... starts a repository block.
• In current mode:
  • SUMMARY|repo|count|latest_date|latest_hash|latest_subject
  • DETAIL|date|hash|subject
• In local-branches mode:
  • BRANCH|branch|count|latest_date|latest_hash|latest_subject
  • TOTAL_UNIQUE|n is the repo-level de-duplicated count across local branches.

Report format: Human-readable output with repository names, commit counts, and individual commit messages.

• Shows per-repo and per-branch statistics
• Lists recent commits (default 10, configurable via --max-commits)
• Displays grand total at the end

Response Pattern

After collecting the raw output:

• First answer the factual question with the exact scope used.
• Then summarize by theme:
  • platform work
  • infrastructure or middleware
  • business features
  • docs or configuration
• Call out uncertainty when duplication is possible across branches.
• If the user wants a report, rewrite the summary into project-based, topic-based, or weekly language.

Common Mistakes

• Using the parent directory as if it were a git repo.
• Matching only author name and missing commits recorded under email.
• Claiming "no changes" without checking local branches.
• Summing local-branch counts as if they were unique commits.