# Ship

> Full ship lifecycle — lint, test, branch, commit, push, PR, CI check. Use when work is complete and ready to land. Pass --merge to also merge after CI passes. Pass --no-test to skip tests.

- Skill: `arosenkranz/ship` (Agent Skill)
- Install (CLI): `npx skillmds@latest add arosenkranz/ship`
- Raw SKILL.md: https://api.skillmd.com/api/skills/arosenkranz/ship/raw
- Safety review: pending
- Works with: Claude Code, Claude.ai, OpenAI Codex
- Category: Coding & Dev Tools
- Author: arosenkranz (https://skillmd.com/u/arosenkranz)
- Updated: 2026-09-10
- Page: https://skillmd.com/skills/arosenkranz/ship

---


# Ship Workflow (/ship)

Full lifecycle for shipping completed work: pre-flight checks, PR creation, and CI monitoring. Invoke with `/ship`.

## When to Use

Use `/ship` when implementation is complete and changes are ready to land. This skill runs the full quality gauntlet before creating a PR.

## Flags

- `--merge` — Also merge the PR after CI passes (default: stop after CI green)
- `--no-test` — Skip the test step in pre-flight (lint still runs)

## Steps (execute in order, no confirmation between steps)

### Phase 1: Pre-flight Checks

Detect package manager:

```bash
if [[ -f "bun.lockb" ]]; then PM="bun"
elif [[ -f "pnpm-lock.yaml" ]]; then PM="pnpm"
elif [[ -f "yarn.lock" ]]; then PM="yarn"
else PM="npm"; fi
```

Run checks in order. If any fails, stop and report — do not proceed to PR:

1. **Lint** (if `package.json` has a `lint` script):
   ```bash
   $PM run lint
   ```
   If lint fails, attempt auto-fix with `$PM run lint -- --fix` and re-check.

2. **Typecheck** (if `package.json` has a `typecheck` script):
   ```bash
   $PM run typecheck
   ```

3. **Tests** (if `package.json` has a `test` script, skip with `--no-test`):
   ```bash
   $PM run test
   ```

### Phase 2: Branch + Commit + Push

1. Check current branch:
   ```bash
   git branch --show-current
   ```
   If on `main` or `master`, create a feature branch:
   - Format: `<type>/<short-description>` (e.g., `feat/add-auth-middleware`)
   - `git checkout -b <branch-name>`

2. Stage relevant files. Exclude:
   - `.env`, `.env.*` files
   - Files matching `*.secret`, `*credentials*`, `*token*`
   - Generated files (`dist/`, `build/`, `.next/`, `node_modules/`)
   - Binary files not intentionally added

   ```bash
   git add <specific files or patterns>
   git status
   git diff --staged
   ```

3. Commit with conventional format:
   ```bash
   git commit -m "$(cat <<'EOF'
   <type>: <concise description under 72 chars>
   EOF
   )"
   ```
   Types: feat, fix, refactor, docs, test, chore, perf, ci.
   Never include "Claude", "AI", or agent attribution.

4. Push with tracking:
   ```bash
   git push -u origin <branch-name>
   ```

### Phase 3: Create PR

```bash
gh pr create --fill
```

For multi-commit branches or when richer description is needed:

```bash
gh pr create --title "<type>: <description>" --body "$(cat <<'EOF'
## Summary
- <bullet 1>
- <bullet 2>

## Test plan
- [ ] <verification step>
EOF
)"
```

Output the PR URL.

### Phase 4: CI Check

Monitor CI status with a 5-minute timeout:

```bash
timeout 300 gh pr checks <pr-number> --watch
```

- If checks **pass** → report green. Stop here unless `--merge` flag was passed.
- If checks **fail** → report which checks failed. Stop and inform user.
- If **timeout** → report "CI still running, check manually" with PR URL. Stop.

### Phase 5: Merge (only with `--merge` flag)

```bash
gh pr merge --squash --delete-branch
git checkout main
git pull origin main
```

If merge is blocked (reviews required, branch protection), report and stop — never force-merge.

### Phase 6: Summary

After completion, print:

```
Ship complete
- Lint: passed
- Typecheck: passed (or "no typecheck script")
- Tests: passed / skipped (--no-test) / "no test script"
- PR: #<number> (<url>)
- CI: all checks green / failed / timed out
- Merged: yes (squash) / no (default — use --merge to auto-merge)
```

## Constraints (always enforced)

- **Never skip lint** — if a lint script exists and fails, stop
- **Never merge with failing CI** — report failures, do not force
- **Never force-merge** — if branch protection blocks merge, stop and report
- **Default merge strategy: squash** — keeps main history clean
- **No attribution** in commits — already disabled globally
- **Never commit directly to main** — always branch first