Repoint Branch

Context

• Current branch: !git branch --show-current 2>/dev/null
• Changed files (vs main): !git diff --name-only origin/main...HEAD 2>/dev/null | head -50

Repoint Branch

Extract independent changes from a compound branch into a new branch targeting main.

Usage

# Interactive - shows changes, asks what to extract
/repoint-branch

# Extract specific files/directories to auto-named branch
/repoint-branch .claude/guidelines/

# Extract multiple paths
/repoint-branch .claude/guidelines/ README.md src/config.py

# Glob pattern
/repoint-branch ".claude/**/*.md"

# Specify new branch name with --name
/repoint-branch .claude/guidelines/ --name feature/guidelines-lite

# Full example
/repoint-branch .claude/guidelines/ .claude/commands/ --name feature/claude-config-lite

Reference Files (conditional — read only when needed)

• @~/.claude/skill-references/platform-detection.md - Platform detection for GitHub/GitLab

Instructions

0. Detect platform — follow @~/.claude/skill-references/platform-detection.md to determine GitHub vs GitLab. Set CLI, REVIEW_UNIT, and API command patterns accordingly. All commands below use GitHub (gh) syntax; substitute GitLab equivalents if on GitLab.

1. Parse arguments:

   • Extract --name <branch-name> if provided
   • Remaining args are file paths, directories, or glob patterns
   • If no paths provided, will prompt interactively

2. Get current context:

   git branch --show-current  # Current branch
   git fetch origin main
   git diff --name-only origin/main...HEAD  # All changed files
   

3. Determine files to extract (store as FILES_TO_EXTRACT):

   • If paths provided:
     • Expand globs: git diff --name-only origin/main...HEAD -- <patterns>
     • Filter to only files that actually changed
   • If no paths:
     • Show all changed files
     • Ask user: "Which files/directories should be extracted to the new branch?"
   • Store the resulting file list as FILES_TO_EXTRACT for use in later steps

4. Validate independence:

   • Show the files to be extracted
   • Ask: "These files will be extracted. Confirm they don't depend on other changes in this branch? (y/n)"

5. Determine new branch name:

   • If --name provided, use it
   • Otherwise, suggest based on current branch: <current-branch>-lite
   • Ask user to confirm or provide alternative

6. Create new branch from main:

   git checkout origin/main
   git checkout -b <new-branch-name>
   

7. Apply the changes: For each file in FILES_TO_EXTRACT:

   # Ensure parent directories exist
   mkdir -p $(dirname <filepath>)
   # Get the file content from the original branch
   git show <original-branch>:<filepath> > <filepath>
   

   Stage and commit all extracted files:

   git add <FILES_TO_EXTRACT>
   git commit -m "<descriptive message>
   
   Co-Authored-By: Claude Opus 4.6 <noreply@anthropic.com>"
   

8. Push and offer to create PR:

   git push -u origin <new-branch-name>
   

   Ask: "Create a PR to main? (y/n)" If yes, run /pr skill or:

   gh pr create --base main --title "<title>" --body "..."
   

9. Return to original branch:

   git checkout <original-branch>
   

   Inform user: "Created <new-branch-name> with extracted changes. Your original branch is unchanged."

Example Session

$ /repoint-branch .claude/guidelines/ --name feature/guidelines-lite

Current branch: feature/phase2 (based on feature/phase1)

Files to extract:
  .claude/guidelines/git-workflow.md
  .claude/guidelines/python-practices.md

These will be copied to new branch 'feature/guidelines-lite' targeting main.
Confirm these don't depend on feature/phase1 changes? (y/n) y

Creating branch from main...
Applying changes...
Committed: "Add git workflow and python practice guidelines"
Pushed to origin/feature/guidelines-lite

Create PR to main? (y/n) y
PR created: https://github.com/user/repo/pull/42

Returned to feature/phase2.

When to Use This vs /git:split-pr

• /git:repoint-branch — You already know which files to extract into a separate PR. Provide paths and this skill handles branching, copying, committing, and PR creation.
• /git:split-pr — You have a large PR and need help analyzing how to split it. That skill proposes a strategy; use this one to execute each piece.

Important Notes

• Original branch remains unchanged - changes are copied, not moved
• Only extracts file contents, not commit history
• Verify extracted files don't import/depend on code from parent branches
• If changes depend on parent branch code, this will create broken code on main