Git Workflow Skill

Clean, reviewable git history. Small commits, descriptive messages, reviewed before merge.

When to Activate

Activate when:

• Starting a new feature or bug fix
• Creating a pull request
• Managing a release
• Resolving merge conflicts

Core Principles

• Small, atomic commits — one logical change per commit
• Descriptive messages — reader understands the change without reading the diff
• Linear history preferred — rebase local branches before creating PR
• Review before merge — no self-merges on shared branches

Branch Naming Convention

feature/user-authentication      — new features
fix/login-redirect-loop          — bug fixes
chore/update-dependencies        — maintenance
release/v1.2.0                   — release preparation
hotfix/critical-null-dereference — urgent production fixes
refactor/extract-auth-middleware — code restructuring
docs/update-api-reference        — documentation only

Conventional Commits Format

type(scope): description

[optional body]

[optional footer]

Types

Examples

feat(auth): add JWT token refresh endpoint
fix(auth): correct token expiry off-by-one error
perf(db): replace N+1 query with single JOIN
refactor(user): extract password validation to separate module
docs(api): document authentication endpoints
test(auth): add coverage for token expiry edge cases
chore(deps): update express to 4.18.2
ci(github): add node 20 to test matrix
feat!: remove deprecated v1 API endpoints

Breaking Changes

feat!: remove deprecated getUserData() function

BREAKING CHANGE: getUserData() has been removed.
Use fetchUserProfile() instead.
Migration: replace all calls to getUserData() with fetchUserProfile().

PR Template

Title: Same format as a commit: feat(auth): add password reset

Description:

## What
[What this PR does in 1-3 sentences]

## Why
[Why this change is needed]

## How to Test
1. [Step 1]
2. [Step 2]
3. Expected result: [what should happen]

## Checklist
- [ ] Tests added or updated
- [ ] Documentation updated
- [ ] No breaking changes (or documented)
- [ ] Ran `npm test` locally

Rebase vs Merge

# Before creating PR — rebase to clean up
git fetch origin
git rebase origin/main
git push --force-with-lease    # safe force push (only if no one else pushed)

Release Process

# 1. Create release branch
git checkout -b release/v1.2.0

# 2. Update version
npm version minor                # updates package.json + creates tag

# 3. Update CHANGELOG
# (add entry under ## [1.2.0])

# 4. Commit
git add CHANGELOG.md package.json
git commit -m "chore(release): v1.2.0"

# 5. Tag
git tag -a v1.2.0 -m "Release v1.2.0"

# 6. Push
git push origin release/v1.2.0 --tags

# 7. Create PR → merge → done

Git Commands Reference

# Undo last commit (keep changes staged)
git reset --soft HEAD~1

# Undo last commit (discard changes)
git reset --hard HEAD~1

# Fix commit message
git commit --amend -m "new message"

# Squash last 3 commits
git rebase -i HEAD~3

# Cherry-pick a commit to another branch
git cherry-pick [commit-sha]

# Find when a bug was introduced
git bisect start
git bisect bad                  # current is broken
git bisect good [good-sha]      # last known good

# Stash changes
git stash                       # save
git stash pop                   # restore