Gt Setup

What It Does

Validates that Graphite CLI is installed, authenticated, and initialized for the current repository. Then configures Graphite CLI settings for AI agent workflows and generates a .graphite.yml convention file.

When to Use

• First installing the plugin.
• After Graphite auth changes.
• When gt commands fail.

Usage

Phase 1: Validate Prerequisites

Step 1: Check Graphite Prerequisites

Run a single Bash call:

version_gte() {
  local IFS=.
  local i a=($1) b=($2)
  for ((i=0; i<${#b[@]}; i++)); do
    local av="${a[i]:-0}" bv="${b[i]:-0}"
    if ((av > bv)); then return 0; fi
    if ((av < bv)); then return 1; fi
  done
  return 0
}

printf '=== Prerequisites ===\n'
if command -v gt >/dev/null 2>&1; then
  gt_version_full=$(gt --version 2>/dev/null)
  gt_version_exit=$?
  gt_version_raw=$(printf '%s' "$gt_version_full" | head -n1)
  if [ "$gt_version_exit" -ne 0 ]; then
    printf 'gt:            BROKEN (exited with code %s)\n' "$gt_version_exit"
    printf 'mcp_server:    SKIPPED (gt is broken)\n'
  elif [ -n "$gt_version_raw" ]; then
    printf 'gt:            ok (%s)\n' "$gt_version_raw"
    gt_ver=$(printf '%s' "$gt_version_raw" | grep -oE '[0-9]+\.[0-9]+\.[0-9]+' | head -1)
    if [ -z "$gt_ver" ]; then
      printf 'mcp_server:    UNKNOWN (could not parse version from: %s)\n' "$gt_version_raw"
    elif version_gte "$gt_ver" "1.6.7"; then
      printf 'mcp_server:    ok (gt >= 1.6.7)\n'
    else
      printf 'mcp_server:    UPGRADE NEEDED (current: %s, need 1.6.7+)\n' "$gt_ver"
    fi
  else
    printf 'gt:            ok (version unknown)\n'
    printf 'mcp_server:    UNKNOWN (gt --version returned no output)\n'
  fi
else
  printf 'gt:            NOT FOUND\n'
  printf 'mcp_server:    SKIPPED (gt not found)\n'
fi
command -v jq >/dev/null 2>&1 && printf 'jq:            ok\n' || printf 'jq:            NOT FOUND\n'
if command -v yq >/dev/null 2>&1; then
  if yq --help 2>&1 | grep -qi 'jq wrapper\|kislyuk'; then
    printf 'yq:            ok\n'
  else
    printf 'yq:            WRONG VARIANT (found non-kislyuk yq; .graphite.yml parsing will be skipped)\n'
  fi
else
  printf 'yq:            NOT FOUND (optional — needed by consumer commands to read .graphite.yml)\n'
fi

printf '\n=== Repository ===\n'
repo_top=$(git rev-parse --show-toplevel 2>/dev/null || true)
[ -n "$repo_top" ] && printf 'git_repo:       ok\n' || printf 'git_repo:       NOT A GIT REPOSITORY\n'
graphite_repo_config=$(git rev-parse --git-path .graphite_repo_config 2>/dev/null || true)
[ -n "$graphite_repo_config" ] && [ -f "$graphite_repo_config" ] && printf 'repo_config:    present (%s)\n' "$graphite_repo_config" || printf 'repo_config:    missing\n'

if command -v gt >/dev/null 2>&1 && git rev-parse --is-inside-work-tree >/dev/null 2>&1; then
  trunk=$(gt trunk 2>/dev/null || true)
  [ -n "$trunk" ] && printf 'gt_trunk:       %s\n' "$trunk" || printf 'gt_trunk:       UNAVAILABLE\n'
else
  printf 'gt_trunk:       SKIPPED\n'
fi

printf '\n=== Graphite Auth ===\n'
auth_ok=0
for path in \
  "$HOME/.graphite_user_config" \
  "${XDG_CONFIG_HOME:-$HOME/.config}/graphite/user_config" \
  "$HOME/.config/graphite/user_config"; do
  if [ -f "$path" ]; then
    auth_ok=1
    printf 'auth_config:    present (%s)\n' "$path"
    break
  fi
done
[ "$auth_ok" -eq 1 ] || printf 'auth_config:    missing\n'

printf '\n=== Convention Files ===\n'
[ -n "$repo_top" ] && [ -f "$repo_top/.graphite.yml" ] && printf 'graphite_yml:   present\n' || printf 'graphite_yml:   not found\n'
[ -n "$repo_top" ] && [ -f "$repo_top/.github/pull_request_template.md" ] && printf 'pr_template:    present\n' || printf 'pr_template:    not found\n'

printf '\n=== Merge Queue Compatibility ===\n'
# Capture stderr from gh probes so failure diagnostics survive (vs silent 2>/dev/null).
mq_err_log=$(mktemp 2>/dev/null) || mq_err_log=""
# Trap covers interruption (e.g. a Bash-tool timeout); the explicit rm at the
# end of this block still handles normal completion.
[ -n "$mq_err_log" ] && trap 'rm -f "$mq_err_log"' EXIT
# No `gh auth status` precheck: it exits non-zero if ANY known host has stale
# auth, which produces false COULD NOT CHECK results on multi-host setups
# (gh.com + ghe.example.com). Let `gh repo view` be the auth probe — it's
# scoped to the current repo's host and its stderr is captured below.
if command -v gh >/dev/null 2>&1; then
  repo_nwo=$(gh repo view --json nameWithOwner -q .nameWithOwner 2>"${mq_err_log:-/dev/null}")
  repo_view_status=$?
  if [ "$repo_view_status" -ne 0 ]; then
    if [ -n "$mq_err_log" ] && [ -s "$mq_err_log" ]; then
      printf '[gt-workflow] Warning: gh repo view failed (exit %d): %s\n' "$repo_view_status" "$(head -c 200 "$mq_err_log" | tr '\n' ' ')" >&2
    else
      printf '[gt-workflow] Warning: gh repo view failed (exit %d)\n' "$repo_view_status" >&2
    fi
    printf 'gh_native_queue:  COULD NOT CHECK (gh repo view failed)\n'
  elif [ -z "$repo_nwo" ]; then
    printf 'gh_native_queue:  COULD NOT CHECK (gh repo view returned no name)\n'
  else
    repo_owner="${repo_nwo%/*}"
    repo_name="${repo_nwo#*/}"
    [ -n "$mq_err_log" ] && : > "$mq_err_log"  # truncate before next probe
    # shellcheck disable=SC2016  # $owner/$name are GraphQL variable refs, not shell vars — intentionally literal in single quotes
    mq_check=$(gh api graphql -f query='
      query($owner:String!,$name:String!){
        repository(owner:$owner,name:$name){ mergeQueue { url } }
      }' -f owner="$repo_owner" -f name="$repo_name" --jq 'if .data.repository == null then error("repo null") else (.data.repository.mergeQueue | if . != null then "configured" else empty end) end' 2>"${mq_err_log:-/dev/null}")
    mq_status=$?
    if [ "$mq_status" -ne 0 ]; then
      if [ -n "$mq_err_log" ] && [ -s "$mq_err_log" ]; then
        printf '[gt-workflow] Warning: merge queue check failed (gh api graphql): %s\n' "$(head -c 200 "$mq_err_log" | tr '\n' ' ')" >&2
      else
        printf '[gt-workflow] Warning: merge queue check failed (gh api graphql)\n' >&2
      fi
      printf 'gh_native_queue:  COULD NOT CHECK (gh api graphql failed)\n'
    elif [ -n "$mq_check" ]; then
      printf 'gh_native_queue:  WARNING (configured — disable at https://github.com/%s/settings/branches)\n' "$repo_nwo"
    else
      printf 'gh_native_queue:  ok (not configured)\n'
    fi
  fi
else
  printf 'gh_native_queue:  COULD NOT CHECK (gh not installed)\n'
fi
[ -n "$mq_err_log" ] && rm -f "$mq_err_log"

Step 2: Interpret Results

Failures (hard stop) — stop after reporting all that apply:

• gt missing: "Graphite CLI is required. Install it from https://graphite.dev/docs/cli and re-run gt-setup."
• jq missing: "jq is required by gt-workflow (the gt-cleanup skill uses it to parse PR-status JSON). Install it from https://jqlang.github.io/jq/download/."
• git_repo not ok: "gt-workflow must be run inside a git repository."
• auth_config missing: "Graphite auth was not detected. Run gt auth or sign in through the Graphite CLI, then re-run gt-setup."
• repo_config missing OR gt_trunk unavailable: "This repository is not initialized for Graphite. Run gt init, confirm gt trunk works, then re-run gt-setup."

If any hard-stop failures exist, stop here. Do not proceed to Phase 2.

Warnings (do not block setup — CLI commands still work):

• mcp_server UPGRADE NEEDED: "Graphite MCP server requires gt v1.6.7+. The gt mcp stdio server registered in plugin.json will fail to start and Graphite MCP tools will be unavailable until you upgrade. Run npm i -g @withgraphite/graphite-cli@latest to upgrade, then re-run gt-setup. All CLI-based skills (smart-submit, gt-sync, etc.) continue to work without MCP."
• mcp_server SKIPPED or UNKNOWN: note accordingly.
• yq NOT FOUND: "yq (kislyuk variant) is optional but recommended. Without it, consumer skills (smart-submit, gt-stack-plan, gt-amend) will use hardcoded defaults instead of .graphite.yml settings. Install with: pip install yq"
• gh_native_queue WARNING (configured): "GitHub native merge queue is configured for this repo. Graphite and GitHub native merge queue are incompatible — running both causes Graphite to restart CI on queued commits and may produce out-of-order merges. To disable: open https://github.com///settings/branches, edit the branch protection rule for your trunk branch, and uncheck Require merge queue. Setup proceeds, but the warning will repeat each time you run gt-setup until resolved."
• gh_native_queue COULD NOT CHECK: informational only — but not necessarily safe to ignore. The parenthetical reason in the output line indicates which probe failed (gh missing/unauthenticated, gh repo view, or gh api graphql); the captured stderr is appended to the [gt-workflow] Warning: line on failure to aid debugging. Three documented false-negative paths exist for the repository.mergeQueue { url } proxy: (1) the GitHub token lacks the admin scope needed to read merge queue config, (2) the repository is not visible to the token, (3) merge queue is configured but mergeQueue.url is null. Any of these can produce COULD NOT CHECK or even a misleading ok (not configured) while the queue is actually active. If your token is scope-limited (e.g., a CI/automation token), re-run gt-setup with an admin-scoped token before relying on the result. Setup itself proceeds normally; the proxy is fail-open by design.

Step 3: Validation Report

If all checks pass, show:

gt-workflow Validation
──────────────────────
Graphite CLI:  ready
jq:            ready
yq:            ready (or: not found — optional)
Auth:          detected
Repository:    initialized (trunk: <branch>)
MCP Server:    available (or: unavailable — gt < 1.6.7)
Merge Queue:   ok (or: WARNING — native queue active / COULD NOT CHECK)

Proceeding to AI agent configuration...

Phase 2: Configure Graphite Settings for AI Agents

Step 4: Show Planned Changes

Before applying any settings, read current values and show what will change. Run a single Bash call:

printf '=== Current Graphite User Settings ===\n'
gt user branch-prefix 2>/dev/null || printf 'branch-prefix: (not set / command unavailable)\n'
gt user branch-date 2>/dev/null || printf 'branch-date: (command unavailable)\n'
gt user restack-date 2>/dev/null || printf 'restack-date: (command unavailable)\n'
gt user submit-body 2>/dev/null || printf 'submit-body: (command unavailable)\n'
gt user pager 2>/dev/null || printf 'pager: (command unavailable)\n'

Present a summary table showing current vs recommended AI-agent values for each setting. Then proceed to the interactive prompts below.

Step 5: Branch Prefix Prompt

(AskUserQuestion is a Claude Code tool — on Codex, ask each question as a numbered-option list in your reply and wait for the user's answer before proceeding; this applies to every AskUserQuestion mention in this skill.)

Use AskUserQuestion to ask: "What branch prefix should AI agents use?"

Options:

• "agent/" (Recommended) — flat namespace for agent-created branches
• "Skip" — keep the current branch-prefix setting unchanged

The "Other" button allows free-text input for a custom prefix.

If the user provides a custom prefix via "Other", validate it:

• Must start with a lowercase letter or digit ([a-z0-9])
• Allowed subsequent characters: lowercase letters, digits, /, _, - only
• Reject if it contains .., ~, spaces, or any character outside [a-z0-9/_-]
• Normalize: append trailing / if missing
• Max length: 20 characters (checked after normalization, so the effective input limit is 19 characters when a trailing / is appended)
• If validation fails, explain the constraint and re-prompt with AskUserQuestion

Store the chosen prefix (or empty string if skipped) for use in Step 7 and Phase 3.

Step 6: Pager Prompt

Use AskUserQuestion to ask: "Disable the Graphite CLI pager? AI agents hang when pager is enabled."

Options:

• "Disable pager (Recommended for AI agents)" — will run gt user pager --disable
• "Keep current pager setting" — no change

If user chooses "Keep", note this in the summary. If user chooses "Disable", include reversal instructions in the final report: "To re-enable: gt user pager --enable"

Step 7: Apply Settings

Apply settings via gt user commands. Run each in a separate Bash call to isolate failures. Track the result of each command.

Settings to apply (in this order):

1. gt user branch-date --disable (if not already disabled)
2. gt user restack-date --use-author-date (if not already set)
3. gt user submit-body --include-commit-messages (if not already set)
4. Branch prefix (if user provided one in Step 5): run Substitute the validated prefix as a literal value in single quotes, e.g., gt user branch-prefix --set 'agent/' — never use shell variable interpolation for user-supplied text
5. gt user pager --disable (only if user chose to disable in Step 6)

Failure handling: If any command fails:

• Record the error output
• Continue applying remaining settings (do not stop on first failure)
• After all commands, show a summary with status for each:
  • "Applied" — command succeeded
  • "Already set" — current value matches target, no change needed
  • "Failed" — command failed (show error)
  • "Skipped" — user chose not to change this setting

If any commands failed, note the failures in the summary and proceed to Phase 3. The user can re-run gt-setup to retry.

Step 8: Settings Summary

Show the final state of all 5 settings:

Graphite Settings Configuration
────────────────────────────────
branch-date:     disabled (Applied)
restack-date:    use-author-date (Applied)
submit-body:     include-commit-messages (Applied)
branch-prefix:   agent/ (Applied)
pager:           disabled (Applied) — to re-enable: gt user pager --enable

Phase 3: Generate Convention File

Step 9: Check for Existing .graphite.yml

Determine the repo root and check for an existing convention file:

repo_top=$(git rev-parse --show-toplevel 2>/dev/null || echo ".")
[ -f "$repo_top/.graphite.yml" ] && printf 'EXISTS\n' || printf 'NOT_FOUND\n'

If the file exists, read it and show the current contents. Then use AskUserQuestion:

• "Update with new values" — overwrite with wizard-generated values
• "Skip" — keep the existing file unchanged

If the file exists but is malformed YAML (read fails or structure is unexpected), warn the user and use AskUserQuestion:

• "Overwrite with valid configuration" — replace entirely
• "Skip" — keep the broken file as-is

If the file does not exist, proceed to Step 10.

If the user chose "Skip", jump to Step 11.

Step 10: Generate .graphite.yml

Build the convention file content using values from Phase 2 (branch prefix from Step 5) and sensible defaults. Use the Write tool to create the file at <repo_root>/.graphite.yml.

The file content:

# gt-workflow convention file — read by smart-submit, gt-stack-plan, gt-amend, gt-setup
# This is NOT a Graphite CLI feature. It is a gt-workflow plugin convention.
# Docs: https://github.com/KingInYellows/yellow-plugins/tree/main/plugins/gt-workflow

submit:
  draft: false
  merge_when_ready: false
  restack_before: true

audit:
  agents: 3
  skip_on_draft: false

branch:
  prefix: "<prefix-from-step-5-or-empty>"

pr_template:
  create: true

Substitute the actual branch prefix chosen in Step 5. If the user skipped the prefix, use an empty string: prefix: "".

After writing, fix CRLF line endings (WSL2 safety):

repo_top=$(git rev-parse --show-toplevel 2>/dev/null || echo ".")
sed -i 's/\r$//' "$repo_top/.graphite.yml" 2>/dev/null || \
  sed -i '' 's/\r$//' "$repo_top/.graphite.yml" 2>/dev/null || \
  printf '[gt-workflow] Warning: could not strip CRLF from .graphite.yml\n' >&2

Step 11: PR Template

First, if .graphite.yml was loaded in Step 9 and pr_template.create is false, skip this step entirely and note "PR template: skipped (pr_template.create is false in .graphite.yml)" in the final report.

Otherwise, check for an existing PR template:

repo_top=$(git rev-parse --show-toplevel 2>/dev/null || echo ".")
[ -f "$repo_top/.github/pull_request_template.md" ] && printf 'EXISTS\n' || printf 'NOT_FOUND\n'

If the template exists, use AskUserQuestion:

• "View current template" — show contents, then re-prompt with Regenerate/Skip
• "Regenerate" — overwrite with the agent-optimized template
• "Skip" — keep existing

If the template does not exist, create .github/ directory if needed and write the template using the Write tool:

repo_top=$(git rev-parse --show-toplevel 2>/dev/null || echo ".")
mkdir -p "$repo_top/.github"

Template content:

## Summary

<!-- 2-3 bullet points of what this PR does -->

## Stack context

<!-- What branch is below this one and why (critical for stack reviewers) -->

## Test plan

<!-- What was verified before submit -->

## Notes for reviewers

<!-- Anything the author wants to call attention to -->

After writing, fix CRLF:

repo_top=$(git rev-parse --show-toplevel 2>/dev/null || echo ".")
sed -i 's/\r$//' "$repo_top/.github/pull_request_template.md" 2>/dev/null || \
  sed -i '' 's/\r$//' "$repo_top/.github/pull_request_template.md" 2>/dev/null || \
  printf '[gt-workflow] Warning: could not strip CRLF from PR template\n' >&2

Step 12: Final Report

Show the complete setup summary:

gt-workflow Setup Complete
──────────────────────────
Phase 1: Validation         PASSED
Phase 2: Graphite Settings  5/5 configured
Phase 3: Convention File    .graphite.yml created
         PR Template        .github/pull_request_template.md created

Consumer skills (smart-submit, gt-stack-plan, gt-amend) will read
.graphite.yml for repo-level behavior overrides.

Next steps:
  - Review and commit .graphite.yml and .github/pull_request_template.md
  - Run smart-submit or gt-sync to verify your workflow

Adjust the summary to reflect actual outcomes (skipped items, partial configuration, existing files kept, etc.).