/work-unit-commits

name: gentle-ai-work-unit-commits
description: "Plan commits as reviewable work units. Trigger: implementation, commit splitting, chained PRs, or keeping tests and docs with code."
license: Apache-2.0
metadata:
  author: gentleman-programming
  version: "1.0"

When to Use

Load this skill when deciding what belongs in each commit or PR.

Use it for:

• Splitting a feature into reviewable work.
• Preparing commits before opening a PR.
• Turning a large change into chained or stacked PRs.
• Keeping reviewer cognitive load healthy.
• Applying SDD tasks without accidentally producing a PR above 400 changed lines.
• Closing an ODD task with a work-unit commit.

Critical Rules

| Rule | Requirement | |------|-------------| | Commit by work unit | A commit represents a deliverable behavior, fix, migration, or docs unit. | | Do not commit by file type | Avoid `models`, then `services`, then `tests` if none works alone. | | Keep tests with code | Tests belong in the same commit as the behavior they verify. | | Keep docs with the user-visible change | Docs belong with the feature or workflow they explain. | | Tell a story | A reviewer should understand why each commit exists from its diff and message. | | Future PR-ready | Each commit should be a candidate chained PR when the change grows. | | SDD workload guard | If SDD tasks forecast a >400-line change, honor the selected `delivery_strategy`. On chaining paths only, group commits into chained PR slices before implementation. For explicit `single-pr` or `exception-ok`, keep one PR, report the review load, and follow the destination repository's documented contribution/size policy; selection alone does not accept an exception. | | Budget is not code-golf | Never shrink a diff by deleting comments, blank lines, docs, or tests, or by compressing code, to fit the review budget (400 by default, or the session `review_budget_lines`). Slice by work unit or report the overage. |

Work Unit Checklist

Before committing, confirm:

• [ ] The commit has one clear purpose.
• [ ] The repo still makes sense after applying only this commit.
• [ ] Tests or docs for this unit are included when relevant.
• [ ] Rollback is reasonable without reverting unrelated work.
• [ ] The commit message explains the outcome, not the file list.

Split Examples

| Weak split | Better work-unit split | |------------|------------------------| | `add models` | `feat(auth): add token validation domain model and tests` | | `add services` | `feat(auth): wire token validation into login flow` | | `add tests` | Tests included with each behavior commit | | `update docs` | Docs included with the user-facing change they explain |

PR Relationship

Use work-unit commits as the foundation for chained PRs:

1. Build the smallest independent work unit. 2. Include verification for that unit. 3. Commit it with a Conventional Commit message. 4. If the PR approaches 400 changed lines, promote commits or groups of commits into chained PRs.

SDD Relationship

When `sdd-tasks` produces a Review Workload Forecast:

• Low risk: keep work-unit commits inside one PR.
• Medium risk: commit by work unit and monitor changed lines before PR creation.
• High risk: follow SDD `delivery_strategy` — ask on `ask-on-risk`, auto-slice with the cached chain choice on `auto-chain`, follow the destination repository's documented contribution/size policy on over-budget `single-pr`, or record an explicitly accepted policy exception on `exception-ok`. A single-PR selection does not itself accept an exception.
• `size:exception` is a Gentle-owned repository policy, not a universal label requirement. Never request, create, or add the label for generic users unless the destination policy uses it; preserve its maintainer acceptance and protected-label authorization gates.
• Splitting is bounded: after one honest slicing pass, if no cohesive work-unit split fits the budget, stop and report the smallest honest count and rationale. Recommend an exception only where destination policy provides it. Do not iterate shrinking the code to reach the number.

Each SDD work unit should map cleanly to a commit or PR with:

• clear start state,
• clear finished state,
• verification in the same unit,
• rollback that does not remove unrelated work.

ODD Relationship

Every ODD task closes with at least one work-unit commit:

• The native review candidate is that commit, or the PR slice it belongs to when review is deferred, evaluated against the previous reviewed boundary.
• The running authored line count from work-unit commits feeds the same delivery-strategy vocabulary as SDD.
• The feature document records the commit identity and, once a delivery strategy applies, the slice boundaries.

Commands

# Review the story before committing
git diff --stat
git diff --cached --stat

# Check recent commit style
git log --oneline -5