# Git Workflow

> Use when establishing branching strategies, implementing Conventional Commits, creating or reviewing PRs, resolving PR review comments, merging PRs (including CI verification, auto-merge queues, and post-merge cleanup), managing PR review threads, merging PRs with signed commits, handling merge conflicts, verifying a merge didn't silently drop changes, syncing a long-diverged branch (e.g. master into integration), rebasing a long-lived branch onto a moved base or splitting one into several PRs, integrating Git with CI/CD, setting up git hooks (lefthook, captainhook, husky, pre-commit), or debugging hook-install failures in git worktrees. The pull-request tooling is GitHub-only — for a GitLab merge request use netresearch-gitlab. Not for creating releases (use github-release) or diagnosing BLOCKED/won't-merge PRs (use github-project).

- Skill: `netresearch-git-workflow-skill/git-workflow` (Agent Skill, multi-file: 22 files)
- Install (CLI): `npx skillmds add netresearch-git-workflow-skill/git-workflow`
- Raw SKILL.md: https://api.skillmd.com/api/skills/netresearch-git-workflow-skill/git-workflow/raw
- Safety review: pending
- Works with: Claude Code, Claude.ai, OpenAI Codex
- Category: DevOps & Infra
- License: (MIT AND CC-BY-SA-4.0). See LICENSE-MIT and LICENSE-CC-BY-SA-4.0
- Author: netresearch (https://skillmd.com/u/netresearch-git-workflow-skill)
- Updated: 2026-09-09
- Page: https://skillmd.com/skills/netresearch-git-workflow-skill/git-workflow

---


# Git Workflow Skill

## Not Here

Releases: `github-release`. BLOCKED-PR diagnosis: `github-project`.

**GitHub only.** Everything below the branching and commit sections — `pr-status.sh`, `pr-merge.sh`, the merge gate, review threads — speaks GitHub GraphQL. A GitLab merge request belongs to `netresearch-gitlab`; the equivalent `glab` calls are in `references/pull-request-workflow.md` § *GitHub only*.

## Critical Rules (Non-Negotiable)

1. **No direct push to main** — always open a PR.
2. **No merge before all threads resolved** (`references/pull-request-workflow.md`).
3. **No squash unless asked** — preserves atomic commits, signatures, bisection.
4. **No "tested/verified/working" without pasted command output** — else say so.
5. **No edits to installed skill/plugin cache paths** (`~/.claude/skills/`, `~/.claude/plugins/cache/`, `**/.bare/**`) — always the repo worktree, verified by `pwd`.
6. **Force-push only with `--force-with-lease`** — never plain `--force`.
7. **Commit before rebase** — `add → commit → fetch → rebase → push` (a dirty tree aborts it).
8. **No editorializing** — state what changed, not how good it is (`references/no-editorializing.md`).

## Reference Files

| Reference | Content Triggers |
|-----------|-----------------|
| `references/commit-conventions.md` | Conventional commits, DCO sign-off |
| `references/pull-request-workflow.md` | PR merge gate, signed rebase |
| `references/ci-cd-integration.md` | CI watching, git mirrors |
| `references/advanced-git.md` | Rebase, cherry-pick, bisect, stash, worktrees, reflog |
| `references/github-releases.md` | → `github-release` skill |
| `references/git-hooks-setup.md` | Hook frameworks, hooks per stage |
| `references/claude-code-hooks.md` | `settings.json` merge gate, cache-path rejection, auto-lint |
| `references/code-quality-tools.md` | shellcheck, shfmt, git-absorb, difftastic |
| `references/merge-gate-watcher.md` | Merge-driver loop, check taxonomy, stale-SHA rerun |
| `references/spec-cleanup.md` | Planning artifacts off the base branch |
| `references/no-editorializing.md` | No self-praise, no narrating the expected |

## Conventional Commits

```
<type>[scope]: <description>
```

`feat` MINOR, `fix` PATCH; full type list and DCO sign-off in `references/commit-conventions.md`.
**Breaking**: `!` after type, or `BREAKING CHANGE:` in the footer.
**Branches**: `feature/TICKET-123-description`, `release/1.2.0`

## Hook Detection

```bash
ls lefthook.yml .lefthook.yml captainhook.json .pre-commit-config.yaml .husky/pre-commit 2>/dev/null || echo "No hooks"
```

Install commands per framework: `references/git-hooks-setup.md`.

## PR Merge Requirements

Before merging: threads resolved, CI green (incl. annotations), rebased, signed, **and reviewed** (human or bot, on the current head). Rebase-only + signed: `git merge --ff-only`.

## Verification

```bash
./scripts/verify-git-workflow.sh /path/to/repository
# Gate state, next action:
./scripts/pr-status.sh [-R owner/repo] [PR] [--json] [--watch]
# Merge; refuses when the gate is shut:
./scripts/pr-merge.sh [-R owner/repo] [PR] [--dry-run|--self-reviewed]
# What a repository expects, before the first artifact:
./scripts/repo-contribution-preflight.sh [--repo <dir>] [--section docs|templates|packaging|ci|tools]
# Which copy is installed here (every script answers this):
./scripts/pr-status.sh --version
```

---

> **Contributing:** <https://github.com/netresearch/git-workflow-skill>