Working With Graphite

Working with Graphite

Core Principles

1. Never commit to main All commits must be on a feature branch
2. Do not create branches unless asked Do not create new branches unless explicitly requested to.
3. Never use raw Git rebase -- always use gt commands to preserve stack metadata
4. Always set Claude as the co-author when committing

Branch Strategy

• When creating plans, include the expected branches for each unit of work
• Pieces of work that span > 500 LOC should be broken into multiple branches and stacked onto one another
• Stack branches in a logical order, with discrete features in each branch.
• Each branch must be able to pass all lint, check, and test evaluations

Committing code

• Manually stage changes to impacted files using git commands. Do not use the -a flag to automatically stage all changes.
• For new features, create a commit using gt modify --commit -m "description of the change"
• For modifications to an existing feature or bug fixes, amend the commit using gt modify

Submitting Changes

• When the task is complete, always gt restack and ensure that any impacted upstack branches are still valid (lint checks pass)
• Use gt submit --stack --update-only when tasks are complete
• If the changes are material, read the existing PR description and incorporate the changes. Do not overwrite the existing description losing important context.
• Present any changes to the PR description to the user for approval

Creating PR's

• Only submit a new PR with the user's explicit consent.
• Create the PR with gt submit --draft. Always submit new PR's as a draft.
• After submitting the PR, create a detailed PR description and submit it using the gh tool
• Ask the user for approval before submitting the PR description

Handling Conflicts

When conflicts occur during gt sync, gt restack, or gt modify:

1. Resolve conflicts in affected files
2. Stage resolved files: git add <files>
3. Continue: gt continue or gt continue --all

Workflow: Updating a Mid-Stack Branch

1. gt checkout <target-branch>
2. Make edits
3. gt modify -a (amends and restacks upstack)
4. gt submit --stack --update-only --no-interactive (pushes all updated branches)

Common Gotchas

• Never git rebase -i -- breaks Graphite metadata. Use gt move instead.
• Never git branch -d -- use gt delete to preserve metadata.
• Never git commit --amend -- use gt modify -a which also restacks.
• gt rename breaks PR links -- avoid renaming branches with existing PRs.
• Squash merges cause cascading conflicts -- gt sync + gt restack resolves this.