Local Git

Local git

These tools act on the repository the session is working in. They are for LOCAL history: seeing what changed and recording it. Anything involving GitHub itself, pull requests, issues, reviews, authentication, belongs to the github-* skills, which drive the gh CLI instead.

Seeing the state

• git_status with optional path. Always the first call. What is modified, what is staged, what is untracked.
• git_diff with optional path and staged. Without staged, it shows unstaged changes; with it, what is actually about to be committed. Read the staged diff before every commit. It is the only way to know what you are recording.
• git_log with optional count. Recent history. Read it before writing a message, to match the repository's existing style.

Committing

git_commit with message, and optional add_all.

1. git_status, to see the full picture.
2. git_diff with staged: true, to read exactly what will be recorded.
3. If untracked or unstaged files belong in this commit, add_all stages everything. Look at the status output first: add_all will sweep in build artefacts, secrets and scratch files if they are not ignored. When in doubt, do not use it.
4. git_commit with a message that says WHY, not what. The diff already says what.
   • First line under about 72 characters, imperative: "Fix watcher never firing on log targets".
   • Then a blank line, then the reasoning if it is not obvious.
5. git_log to confirm the commit landed with the message you intended.

Commit only when the user asked for it, or when you have been told to work that way. Recording history is a decision that belongs to them.

Isolated worktrees

For speculative or risky work, branch out instead of experimenting in place.

• git_worktree_enter with branch_name creates an isolated worktree and moves the session's working directory into it. The main checkout is untouched.
• git_worktree_exit returns to the original repository.

Use it when you are about to try something you may want to throw away entirely: a large refactor, a dependency upgrade, an approach you are unsure of.

While inside, every path-relative tool resolves against the WORKTREE, not the original repository. If you write to a path that looks familiar, you are writing to the copy. Commit before exiting; uncommitted work in a worktree is easy to lose track of.

Traps

• add_all is not "stage my changes". It stages everything git can see that is not ignored. Run git_status first and read the untracked list. One careless add_all is how a token or a 200 MB model file enters history permanently.
• git_diff without staged does not show what you are about to commit. Two different questions, two different flags.
• Committing on the default branch. If the repository has a main or master and the user has not said to commit there, create a branch first.
• Never rewrite published history on your own initiative: no force push, no reset hard, no amend on a commit that already left the machine. If it looks necessary, say so and let the user decide.
• Do not skip hooks. A failing hook is a real signal. Fix the cause.

Failure modes

git_commit reports nothing to commit. Nothing is staged. Either the edits went to a different path than you think, or add_all was omitted. Run git_status and read where the changes actually are.

The commit contains files you did not expect. add_all swept them in. Say so immediately rather than quietly continuing, and let the user decide whether to amend before it is pushed.

Tools report a clean repository but your edits exist. You are inside a worktree, or the session's working directory is not the repository you think. git_status output names the path; check it against where you wrote.

git_worktree_enter fails on an existing branch name. The branch or worktree is already there. Pick another name, or exit and reuse the existing one.