/managing-git

name: managing-git
description: Manages Git workflows including branching, commits, and pull requests. Use when working with Git, creating commits, opening PRs, managing branches, resolving conflicts, or when asked about version control best practices.

Managing Git

When to Load

• **Trigger**: Branching strategies, commit workflows, pull requests, merge conflicts, version control questions
• **Skip**: Tasks that do not involve git operations

Feature Development Workflow

Copy this checklist and track progress:

Feature Development Progress:
- [ ] Step 1: Create feature branch from main
- [ ] Step 2: Make changes with atomic commits
- [ ] Step 3: Rebase on latest main
- [ ] Step 4: Push and create PR
- [ ] Step 5: Address review feedback
- [ ] Step 6: Merge after approval

Branching Strategies

GitHub Flow (Recommended for most projects)

main ──●────●────●────●────●── (always deployable)
        \          /
feature  └──●──●──┘

• `main` is always deployable
• Feature branches from main
• PR + review + merge
• Deploy after merge

Git Flow (For release-based projects)

main     ──●─────────────●────── (releases only)
            \           /
release      └────●────┘
                 /
develop  ──●──●────●──●──●──
            \     /
feature      └──●┘

Commit Conventions

Conventional Commits Format

<type>(<scope>): <description>

[optional body]

[optional footer(s)]

Types

| Type | Description | | ---------- | --------------------------------------------------- | | `feat` | New feature | | `fix` | Bug fix | | `docs` | Documentation only | | `style` | Formatting, no logic change | | `refactor` | Code change that neither fixes bug nor adds feature | | `perf` | Performance improvement | | `test` | Adding/updating tests | | `chore` | Build process, dependencies | | `ci` | CI configuration |

Examples

feat(auth): add OAuth2 login support

Implements Google and GitHub OAuth providers.
Closes #123

BREAKING CHANGE: Session tokens now expire after 24h

fix(api): handle null response from payment gateway

Previously caused 500 error when gateway returned null.
Now returns appropriate error message to user.

Branch Naming

<type>/<ticket-id>-<short-description>

# Examples
feature/AUTH-123-oauth-login
fix/BUG-456-null-pointer
chore/TECH-789-upgrade-deps

Pull Request Workflow

Copy this checklist when creating PRs:

PR Checklist:
- [ ] Code follows project conventions
- [ ] Tests added/updated for changes
- [ ] All tests pass locally
- [ ] No merge conflicts with main
- [ ] Documentation updated if needed
- [ ] No security vulnerabilities introduced
- [ ] PR description explains the "why"

PR Template

## Summary

[Brief description of changes]

## Changes

- [Change 1]
- [Change 2]

## Testing

- [ ] Unit tests added/updated
- [ ] Manual testing performed
- [ ] E2E tests pass

## Screenshots (if UI changes)

[Before/After screenshots]

PR Size Guidelines

| Size | Lines Changed | Review Guidance | | ---- | ------------- | ----------------- | | XS | < 50 | Quick review | | S | 50-200 | Standard review | | M | 200-500 | Thorough review | | L | 500+ | Split if possible |

Common Git Commands

Daily Workflow

# Start new feature
git checkout main
git pull
git checkout -b feature/TICKET-123-description

# Commit changes
git add path/to/file  # Stage specific files (git add -p needs an interactive terminal)
git commit -m "feat: description"

# Keep up with main
git fetch origin main
git rebase origin/main

# Push and create PR
git push -u origin HEAD  # after rebasing an already-pushed branch: git push --force-with-lease

Fixing Mistakes

# Amend last commit (before push)
git commit --amend

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

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

# Revert a pushed commit
git revert <commit-hash>

# Interactive rebase to clean up
git rebase -i HEAD~3
# Non-interactive: git commit --fixup=<sha>, then
GIT_SEQUENCE_EDITOR=: git rebase -i --autosquash HEAD~3

Advanced Operations

# Cherry-pick specific commit
git cherry-pick <commit-hash>

# Find which commit broke something
git bisect start
git bisect bad HEAD
git bisect good <known-good-commit>

# Stash with message
git stash push -m "WIP: feature description"
git stash list
git stash pop

Commit Validation

Before pushing, validate commits:

Commit Validation:
- [ ] Each commit has a clear, descriptive message
- [ ] Commit type matches the change (feat, fix, etc.)
- [ ] No WIP or temporary commits
- [ ] No secrets or credentials committed
- [ ] Changes are atomic (one logical change per commit)

If validation fails, use `git rebase -i` to clean up commit history (or `--fixup` + `--autosquash` when no interactive terminal is available) before pushing.