Git Discipline

History is shared state. Preserve it and the user's uncommitted work.

Before and after

• Inspect git status and the relevant diff before editing; inspect the final diff before reporting completion.
• Preserve unrelated user changes and untracked files. Never stage or revert work you did not create without being asked.

Commits and branches

• Keep changes logically scoped; avoid unrelated formatting churn. One coherent change per commit.
• Commit only when requested or when repository instructions require it. Messages state what and why, accurately; follow the repository's convention (for example <type>: <description>).
• Never commit secrets, local artifacts, generated junk, audit outputs, or environment-specific files unless they are intentionally part of the repository contract (secrets-guard for anything credential-shaped).
• Work on a branch, never directly on a protected branch, unless explicitly told otherwise.

Never without explicit authorization

Destructive reset --hard, clean -f, checkout -- over local changes; rewriting shared history (rebase or amend of pushed commits); force-push; deleting branches or tags; changing remotes; merging to protected branches.

Conflicts

Resolve by understanding both sides and the intent of each change, not by mechanically choosing one. Re-run the affected tests after resolution.

Pull requests

Summarize the full commit range (git diff <base>...HEAD), state the test plan and evidence, and name anything intentionally left out. Push with -u for a new branch.