Git Workflow Skill

Overview

Comprehensive Git workflow skill covering branching strategies, semantic commits, pull request management, conflict resolution, and team collaboration best practices.

Capabilities

1. Branching Strategies

• GitFlow workflow
• GitHub Flow
• Trunk-based development
• Feature branch workflow
• Release management

2. Commit Management

• Semantic commit messages
• Conventional commits
• Atomic commits
• Interactive rebasing
• Commit squashing

3. Collaboration

• Pull request workflows
• Code review integration
• Conflict resolution
• Fork management
• Team synchronization

4. Release Management

• Version tagging
• Changelog generation
• Semantic versioning
• Release branches
• Hotfix workflows

Branching Strategies

GitFlow

Branch Types:

• main - Production-ready code
• develop - Integration branch
• feature/* - New features
• release/* - Release preparation
• hotfix/* - Production fixes

Workflow:

# Start new feature
git checkout develop
git checkout -b feature/user-authentication

# Work on feature...
git add .
git commit -m "feat: add login form"

# Complete feature
git checkout develop
git merge --no-ff feature/user-authentication
git branch -d feature/user-authentication

# Prepare release
git checkout -b release/1.2.0 develop
# Bug fixes only...
git checkout main
git merge --no-ff release/1.2.0
git tag -a v1.2.0 -m "Release version 1.2.0"
git checkout develop
git merge --no-ff release/1.2.0
git branch -d release/1.2.0

# Hotfix
git checkout -b hotfix/1.2.1 main
# Fix critical bug...
git checkout main
git merge --no-ff hotfix/1.2.1
git tag -a v1.2.1 -m "Hotfix version 1.2.1"
git checkout develop
git merge --no-ff hotfix/1.2.1
git branch -d hotfix/1.2.1

GitHub Flow

Simpler workflow for continuous deployment:

# Create feature branch from main
git checkout main
git pull origin main
git checkout -b feature/add-search

# Make changes and commit
git add .
git commit -m "feat: implement search functionality"

# Push and create PR
git push -u origin feature/add-search
gh pr create --title "Add search functionality" --body "..."

# After review and CI passes
gh pr merge --squash

# Delete branch
git branch -d feature/add-search

Trunk-Based Development

For teams with strong CI/CD:

# Always work on main (or short-lived branches)
git checkout main
git pull origin main

# Short-lived branch (< 1 day)
git checkout -b improvement/optimize-query

# Small, frequent commits
git add .
git commit -m "perf: optimize user query with indexing"

# Merge quickly
git push origin improvement/optimize-query
# Create PR, get quick review, merge

Semantic Commit Messages

Conventional Commits Format

<type>(<scope>): <subject>

<body>

<footer>

Types

• feat: New feature
• fix: Bug fix
• docs: Documentation only
• style: Code style (formatting, missing semicolons)
• refactor: Code change that neither fixes bug nor adds feature
• perf: Performance improvement
• test: Adding or updating tests
• chore: Maintenance (dependencies, build config)
• ci: CI/CD changes
• revert: Reverting previous commit

Examples

Feature:

git commit -m "feat(auth): add JWT token authentication

Implement JWT-based authentication system with refresh tokens.
Tokens expire after 15 minutes and can be refreshed using the
/api/auth/refresh endpoint.

Closes #123"

Bug Fix:

git commit -m "fix(cart): prevent duplicate items in shopping cart

Users could add the same item multiple times. Added check to
increment quantity instead of creating duplicate entries.

Fixes #456"

Breaking Change:

git commit -m "feat(api)!: change user endpoint response format

BREAKING CHANGE: User API now returns snake_case instead of camelCase.
Update API clients to handle new format.

{
  'user_id': 1,
  'first_name': 'John'
}

Closes #789"

Performance:

git commit -m "perf(database): add index on user_id for orders table

Query time reduced from 2.3s to 0.15s for orders by user.
Added composite index on (user_id, created_at).

Closes #234"

Interactive Rebasing

Clean Up Commit History

# View last 5 commits
git log --oneline -5

# Interactive rebase
git rebase -i HEAD~5

# Editor opens:
pick a1b2c3d feat: add user model
pick e4f5g6h fix: typo in user model
pick i7j8k9l feat: add user validation
pick m0n1o2p refactor: improve validation
pick q3r4s5t docs: update user model docs

# Change to:
pick a1b2c3d feat: add user model
fixup e4f5g6h fix: typo in user model  # Squash into previous
pick i7j8k9l feat: add user validation
fixup m0n1o2p refactor: improve validation
pick q3r4s5t docs: update user model docs

# Save and close editor

Reorder Commits

git rebase -i HEAD~3

# Change order in editor:
pick commit1
pick commit2
pick commit3

# To:
pick commit3  # Now first
pick commit1
pick commit2

Edit Commit Messages

git rebase -i HEAD~3

# Change 'pick' to 'reword':
reword a1b2c3d Old commit message
pick e4f5g6h Another commit

# Editor will open for each 'reword' commit

Pull Request Workflow

Creating a Pull Request

# 1. Create feature branch
git checkout -b feature/user-dashboard main

# 2. Make changes
git add .
git commit -m "feat(dashboard): add user statistics widget"

# 3. Push branch
git push -u origin feature/user-dashboard

# 4. Create PR (using GitHub CLI)
gh pr create \
  --title "Add user dashboard with statistics" \
  --body "$(cat <<'EOF'
## Summary
Implements user dashboard with statistics widget showing:
- Total orders
- Revenue
- Active sessions

## Changes
- New DashboardController
- Statistics calculation service
- Frontend components

## Testing
- Unit tests added
- Manual testing completed
- Screenshot attached

## Checklist
- [x] Tests added/updated
- [x] Documentation updated
- [x] No breaking changes
- [x] Follows code style

Closes #567
EOF
)"

# 5. Address review comments
git add .
git commit -m "fix(dashboard): address review comments"
git push

# 6. Merge after approval
gh pr merge --squash --delete-branch

Review Pull Requests

# Check out PR locally
gh pr checkout 123

# Run tests
npm test

# Review changes
git diff main...feature/user-dashboard

# Comment on PR
gh pr comment 123 --body "LGTM! Great work on the error handling."

# Request changes
gh pr review 123 --request-changes --body "Please add tests for error cases"

# Approve
gh pr review 123 --approve --body "Approved! Ready to merge."

Conflict Resolution

Merge Conflicts

# Attempt merge
git merge feature/new-feature

# Conflict!
# Auto-merging src/app.js
# CONFLICT (content): Merge conflict in src/app.js

# View conflicted files
git status

# Open file and resolve:
<<<<<<< HEAD
function oldImplementation() {
=======
function newImplementation() {
>>>>>>> feature/new-feature

# Choose one or combine:
function combinedImplementation() {
    // Best of both
}

# Mark as resolved
git add src/app.js

# Complete merge
git commit -m "merge: resolve conflicts in app.js"

Rebase Conflicts

# Rebase onto main
git rebase main

# Conflict! Resolve file...
git add resolved-file.js

# Continue rebase
git rebase --continue

# Or abort if needed
git rebase --abort

Advanced Git Techniques

Cherry-Pick

# Apply specific commit from another branch
git cherry-pick a1b2c3d

# Cherry-pick without committing
git cherry-pick -n a1b2c3d

# Cherry-pick range
git cherry-pick a1b2c3d..e4f5g6h

Stash

# Save work in progress
git stash save "WIP: working on feature X"

# List stashes
git stash list

# Apply stash
git stash apply stash@{0}

# Apply and remove
git stash pop

# Create branch from stash
git stash branch feature/from-stash stash@{0}

Bisect

# Find commit that introduced bug
git bisect start
git bisect bad  # Current commit is bad
git bisect good v1.0.0  # This version was good

# Git checks out middle commit
# Test and mark:
git bisect good  # or git bisect bad

# Repeat until found
# Git will identify the bad commit

# End bisect
git bisect reset

Reflog

# View all ref changes (even after reset)
git reflog

# Recover lost commit
git reset --hard HEAD@{2}

# Recover deleted branch
git checkout -b recovered-branch HEAD@{5}

Integration Scripts

git_workflow_helper.sh

Git workflow automation:

#!/bin/bash
# Git workflow helper

ACTION=$1
BRANCH_NAME=$2

case $ACTION in
  "feature")
    if [ -z "$BRANCH_NAME" ]; then
      echo "Usage: $0 feature <feature-name>"
      exit 1
    fi
    git checkout main
    git pull origin main
    git checkout -b "feature/$BRANCH_NAME"
    echo "Created feature branch: feature/$BRANCH_NAME"
    ;;

  "pr")
    CURRENT_BRANCH=$(git branch --show-current)
    echo "Creating PR for $CURRENT_BRANCH..."

    # Get commit messages for PR description
    COMMITS=$(git log --oneline main..HEAD)

    gh pr create \
      --title "$(echo $CURRENT_BRANCH | sed 's/-/ /g' | sed 's/feature\///')" \
      --body "$(cat <<EOF
## Changes
$COMMITS

## Checklist
- [ ] Tests added/updated
- [ ] Documentation updated
- [ ] No breaking changes
- [ ] Code review completed
EOF
)"
    ;;

  "sync")
    CURRENT_BRANCH=$(git branch --show-current)
    echo "Syncing $CURRENT_BRANCH with main..."
    git fetch origin
    git merge origin/main
    echo "Merged main into $CURRENT_BRANCH"
    ;;

  "cleanup")
    echo "Cleaning up merged branches..."
    git fetch -p
    git branch --merged main | grep -v "main\|master\|develop" | xargs git branch -d
    echo "Cleanup complete"
    ;;

  "status")
    echo "=== Git Status Overview ==="
    echo "Current branch: $(git branch --show-current)"
    echo "Commits ahead of main: $(git rev-list --count main..HEAD)"
    echo "Modified files: $(git status --short | wc -l)"
    echo "Unpushed commits:"
    git log --oneline @{u}..HEAD
    ;;

  *)
    echo "Usage: $0 {feature|pr|sync|cleanup|status} [args]"
    echo ""
    echo "Commands:"
    echo "  feature <name>  - Create new feature branch"
    echo "  pr              - Create pull request"
    echo "  sync            - Sync current branch with main"
    echo "  cleanup         - Delete merged branches"
    echo "  status          - Show git status overview"
    ;;
esac

commit_validator.sh

Validate commit messages:

#!/bin/bash
# Commit message validator (Git hook)

commit_msg_file=$1
commit_msg=$(cat "$commit_msg_file")

# Conventional commit pattern
pattern="^(feat|fix|docs|style|refactor|perf|test|chore|ci|revert)(\(.+\))?: .{1,50}"

if ! echo "$commit_msg" | grep -qE "$pattern"; then
    echo "❌ Invalid commit message format!"
    echo ""
    echo "Format: <type>(<scope>): <subject>"
    echo ""
    echo "Types: feat, fix, docs, style, refactor, perf, test, chore, ci, revert"
    echo ""
    echo "Example: feat(auth): add JWT authentication"
    exit 1
fi

echo "✅ Commit message valid"
exit 0

Install Git Hooks

# Copy to .git/hooks/commit-msg
cp commit_validator.sh .git/hooks/commit-msg
chmod +x .git/hooks/commit-msg

# Or use husky (Node.js)
npm install --save-dev husky
npx husky install
npx husky add .git/hooks/commit-msg 'npx --no -- commitlint --edit $1'

Best Practices

1. Commit Often: Small, atomic commits
2. Write Clear Messages: Follow conventional commits
3. Pull Before Push: Avoid conflicts
4. Review Before Merging: Always use PRs
5. Keep Branches Short-Lived: Merge within days
6. Don't Commit Secrets: Use .gitignore
7. Tag Releases: Use semantic versioning
8. Clean History: Rebase/squash before merging
9. Test Before Pushing: Run tests locally
10. Document Decisions: Use commit messages

.gitignore Best Practices

# Environment
.env
.env.local
.env.*.local

# Dependencies
node_modules/
venv/
__pycache__/
*.pyc

# Build output
dist/
build/
*.log

# IDE
.vscode/
.idea/
*.swp

# OS
.DS_Store
Thumbs.db

# Secrets
*.pem
*.key
config/secrets.json

# Test coverage
coverage/
.coverage
htmlcov/

Requirements

# GitHub CLI
brew install gh
# Or: https://cli.github.com/

# Commitlint (Node.js)
npm install --save-dev @commitlint/cli @commitlint/config-conventional

# Git extras
brew install git-extras

Metrics to Track

• Commit frequency: Daily commits
• PR merge time: < 2 days
• Branch lifetime: < 1 week
• Conflict rate: Minimize
• Code review coverage: 100%
• CI/CD success rate: > 95%