Git Best Practices

Always Active Principles

When this skill is loaded, follow these directives for all git operations:

• Discover before acting — run branch discovery to determine the repo's default and production branches before branching, merging, or opening PRs

• Conventional commits — every commit uses type(scope): description format

• Stage explicitly — add files by name so only intended changes are committed

• Protect shared history — use --force-with-lease for force pushes; confirm with the user before any force push

Agent Git Workflow

Follow this sequence when performing git operations:

• Check state — run git status and git diff HEAD ; output: working tree and unstaged/staged delta

• Discover branches — identify and store default/current/(optional) production branch names (see Branch Discovery)

• Stage by name — git add path/to/file for each file; verify with git status

• Write a conventional commit — type(scope): description with optional body

• Push safely — use regular push by default; use git push --force-with-lease origin {branch} only for rewritten history and only after user confirmation

Checkpoint Commits

Agents may create WIP checkpoint commits during long-running tasks. These are development artifacts, cleaned up before PR.

• Prefix with wip: or use standard conventional commit format

• Keep changes logically grouped even in WIP state

• Run /rewrite-history before opening a PR to craft a clean narrative

Commit Discipline

• Stage files explicitly by name: git add src/auth.ts src/auth.test.ts

• Verify staged content with git status before committing

• Keep secrets, .env files, credentials, and large binaries out of commits — warn the user if staged files look sensitive

• Target one logical change per commit in final PR-ready state

Force Push

Use --force-with-lease exclusively to protect against overwriting upstream changes:

git push --force-with-lease origin feat/my-branch

Always confirm with the user before any force push, regardless of branch.

Conventional Commits

Format: type(scope): description

Subject line rules:

• Lowercase, imperative mood, no trailing period

• Under 72 characters

• Scope is optional but preferred when a clear subsystem exists

Common types:

Type Use for

feat

New functionality

fix

Bug fix

docs

Documentation only

refactor

Restructuring without behavior change

perf

Performance improvement

chore

Maintenance, dependencies, tooling

test

Adding or updating tests

ci

CI/CD pipeline changes

build

Build system changes

style

Formatting, whitespace (no logic change)

Commit Bodies

Body is optional — only add one when the change is genuinely non-obvious. The subject line carries the "what"; the body explains "why."

Add a body when:

• The motivation or tradeoff is non-obvious

• Multi-part changes benefit from a bullet list

• External context is needed (links, issue references, root cause)

Examples

fix(shell): restore Alt+F terminal navigation

fix(shell): use HOMEBREW_PREFIX to avoid path_helper breaking plugins in login shells

macOS path_helper reorders PATH in login shells, putting /usr/local/bin before /opt/homebrew/bin. This caused brew --prefix to resolve the stale Intel Homebrew, so fzf, zsh-autosuggestions, and zsh-syntax-highlighting all silently failed to load in Ghostty (which spawns login shells).

Use the HOMEBREW_PREFIX env var (set by brew shellenv in .zshenv) instead of calling brew --prefix — it survives path_helper and is faster.

feat(install): add claude bootstrap runtime management

• migrate Claude defaults to declarative files under claude/defaults
• add claude-bootstrap check/fix/uninstall with backup-first migration
• stop stowing full claude/codex runtime trees and tighten drift checks

fix(pool-party): handle stale settlement state on reconnect

PoolSettlement contract stays in pending state when the participant disconnects mid-settlement. Check settlement timestamp and expire stale entries on reconnect.

Fixes SEND-718

chore(submodule): update claude-code

Bump claude-code to 88d0c75 (feat(skills): add tiltup, specalign, and e2e skills).

For trivial bumps, bump or bump claude-code submodule is acceptable.

refactor(api)!: change auth endpoint response format

The /auth/token endpoint now returns { access_token, expires_in } instead of { token, expiry }. All clients must update their parsers.

Branch Discovery

Before branching or opening a PR, discover the repo's branch topology. Run these commands and store the results:

Default branch (PR target for most repos)

gh repo view --json defaultBranchRef --jq '.defaultBranchRef.name'

Current branch

git branch --show-current

Production branch (if different from default)

git branch -r --list 'origin/main' 'origin/master' 'origin/production'

Fallback when gh is unavailable or the repo has no remote:

Infer default branch from local refs

git symbolic-ref refs/remotes/origin/HEAD 2>/dev/null | sed 's@^refs/remotes/origin/@@'

Last resort: check local branches and fail loudly if unknown

if git rev-parse --verify main >/dev/null 2>&1; then echo main elif git rev-parse --verify master >/dev/null 2>&1; then echo master else echo "ERROR: unable to determine default branch (main/master not found)." >&2 exit 1 fi

Store the discovered branch name and reference it throughout. Use the actual branch name in all subsequent commands.

Branch Naming

Use repository branch naming conventions first. If no convention is documented, use:

Format: type/description-TICKET-ID

Examples:

• feat/add-login-SEND-77

• fix/pool-party-stall-SEN-68

• chore/update-deps

• hotfix/auth-bypass

Include the ticket ID when an issue exists. Omit when there is no ticket.

Branch Flow

Use repository branch flow policy first. If policy is undocumented, a common baseline is:

{production-branch} (production deploys) └── {default-branch} (staging/testnet deploys, PR target) ├── feat/add-feature-TICKET ├── fix/bug-description-TICKET └── hotfix/* (branches off production branch for hotfixes)

• Feature and fix branches start from the default branch

• Hotfix branches start from the production branch

• PRs target the default branch unless the repo uses a single-branch flow

• When default branch and production branch are the same, all PRs target that branch directly

Merge Strategy

Use repository merge policy first (required in many organizations).

If no policy exists, these defaults are reasonable:

PR target Strategy Rationale

Feature → default branch Squash merge Clean history, one commit per feature

Default → production Merge commit Preserves the release boundary; visible deploy points

Hotfix → production Squash merge Single atomic fix on production

PR Workflow

Sizing

Pragmatic sizing over arbitrary limits. Each commit tells a clear story regardless of PR size. A PR should be reviewable as a coherent unit — if a reviewer cannot hold the full change in their head, consider splitting.

PR Creation

Use repo-native PR tooling (gh pr create , GitLab CLI, or web UI) with:

• Short title under 70 characters

• Summary section with 1-3 bullet points

• Test plan as a bulleted checklist

History Rewriting Before PR

For branches with messy WIP history, use /rewrite-history to:

• Backup the branch

• Reset to the base branch tip

• Recommit changes as a clean narrative sequence

• Verify byte-for-byte match with backup

• Confirm with the user before force-pushing rewritten history

• Open PR with link to backup branch

Each rewritten commit introduces one coherent idea, building on the previous — like a tutorial teaching the reader how the feature was built.