Git and GitHub Workflow Skill

Comprehensive guide for Git version control and GitHub collaboration patterns.

When This Activates

Creating commits or branches
Opening or reviewing pull requests
Managing GitHub issues
Using the gh CLI
Keywords: "git", "github", "commit", "branch", "pr", "pull request", "merge", "issue"

Conventional Commits

All commit messages follow the conventional commits specification:

[optional body]

[optional footer(s)]

Types

Type When to Use

feat

New feature or capability

fix

Bug fix

docs

Documentation only changes

style

Formatting, missing semicolons, etc.

refactor

Code change that neither fixes a bug nor adds a feature

perf

Performance improvement

test

Adding or correcting tests

chore

Build process, auxiliary tools, or maintenance

CI/CD configuration changes

Examples

feat(auth): add JWT token refresh endpoint fix(api): handle null response from upstream service docs: update API reference for v2 endpoints refactor(db): extract query builder into separate module test(auth): add integration tests for OAuth flow chore: upgrade dependencies to latest versions

Breaking Changes

Use ! after type or add BREAKING CHANGE: footer:

feat(api)!: change response format from XML to JSON

Branch Naming Conventions

Patterns

Pattern Example

Feature feat/123-add-user-auth

Bug fix fix/456-null-pointer-crash

Docs docs/789-update-api-reference

Refactor refactor/101-extract-helpers

Rules

Use lowercase with hyphens (no underscores or spaces)
Include issue number when applicable
Keep descriptions under 5 words
Delete branches after merging

PR Workflow with gh CLI

Creating Pull Requests

Create PR with title and body

gh pr create --title "feat: add user authentication" --body "$(cat <<'EOF'

Summary

Add JWT-based authentication
Implement login/logout endpoints

Test plan

Unit tests for token generation
Integration tests for auth flow EOF )"

Create draft PR

gh pr create --draft --title "wip: refactor database layer"

Create PR targeting specific base branch

gh pr create --base develop --title "feat: new feature"

Reviewing Pull Requests

List open PRs

gh pr list

View PR details

gh pr view 123

Check out PR locally

gh pr checkout 123

Approve PR

gh pr review 123 --approve

Request changes

gh pr review 123 --request-changes --body "Please fix the error handling"

Merge PR

gh pr merge 123 --squash --delete-branch

PR Best Practices

Keep PRs small - Under 400 lines changed when possible
One concern per PR - Don't mix features with refactors
Write descriptive titles - Use conventional commit format
Include test plan - Checklist of what to verify
Link issues - Use "Closes #123" in body

Issue Management

Creating Issues

Create issue with title and body

gh issue create --title "Bug: login fails on Safari" --body "Steps to reproduce..."

Create with labels

gh issue create --title "feat: dark mode" --label "enhancement,ui"

Create with assignee

gh issue create --title "fix: memory leak" --assignee "@me"

Issue Templates

Use labels to categorize:

Label Color Purpose

bug

red Something broken

enhancement

blue New feature request

documentation

green Docs improvement

good first issue

purple Beginner friendly

priority: high

orange Needs immediate attention

Linking Issues to PRs

In PR body

Closes #123 Fixes #456 Resolves #789

Git Hooks Best Practices

Pre-commit

Format code

black --check src/ isort --check src/

Lint

flake8 src/

Check for secrets

detect-secrets scan

Pre-push

Run tests

pytest tests/ -x --timeout=60

Type check

mypy src/

Commit-msg

Validate conventional commit format

pattern="^(feat|fix|docs|style|refactor|perf|test|chore|ci)((.+))?!?: .{1,72}" if ! echo "$1" | grep -qE "$pattern"; then echo "Invalid commit message format" exit 1 fi

Common Git Operations

Stashing Changes

git stash push -m "wip: authentication changes" git stash list git stash pop

Interactive Rebase (cleanup before PR)

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

Cherry-picking

git cherry-pick abc1234 # Apply specific commit

Resolving Conflicts

git merge main # Trigger merge

Fix conflicts in editor

git add . git commit # Complete merge

Key Takeaways

Conventional commits - Always use type(scope): description format
Branch naming - type/issue-description pattern
Small PRs - Under 400 lines, one concern each
gh CLI - Use for all GitHub operations
Link issues - Always connect PRs to issues
Git hooks - Automate quality checks
Delete merged branches - Keep repository clean

Hard Rules

FORBIDDEN:

Force-pushing to main/master without explicit approval
Committing secrets, API keys, or credentials (use .env files)
Merge commits with failing CI checks
PRs without linked issues or description

REQUIRED:

All PRs MUST have a description explaining the "why"
Branch names MUST follow type/issue-description pattern
Commits MUST use conventional commit format (feat: , fix: , docs: , etc.)
All PRs MUST pass CI before merge

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