Graphite Skill - Context-Efficient Git/Graphite Workflows

Stop drowning in verbose git/Graphite output. This skill automatically enables context-efficient workflows for all git and Graphite CLI operations in Claude Code through automatic delegation patterns.

Core Principles

• Automatic Delegation: Verbose git/Graphite operations are automatically delegated to Task subagents

• Context Isolation: Raw CLI output (15KB+) is processed in isolated context, summaries (<50 tokens) returned

• Zero Friction: SessionStart hooks inject patterns automatically - no manual invocation needed

• Team-Ready: Git-trackable configuration for team-wide distribution

• 225x Efficiency: Dramatic context window improvements (4,108 tokens → 18 tokens)

Problem Statement

Before Graphite Skill (Context Pollution)

You: "Check my Graphite stack" Claude: [Returns 15KB of JSON → 4,000+ tokens consumed] Result: Context polluted, reasoning degraded, 2-3 operations max

Traditional git/Graphite operations flood context:

• gt stack → 15KB JSON (4,108 tokens)

• git log --graph → 50KB output (12,000+ tokens)

• gt pr info → 20KB JSON (5,000+ tokens)

• Multiple queries → Context window exhaustion

After Graphite Skill (Context Efficiency)

You: "Check my Graphite stack" Claude: [Automatically delegates to Task subagent] Subagent: [Processes 15KB in isolated context] Claude: "✓ feature/auth | 3 PRs | Review #456" Result: Clean context, 18 tokens used, 100+ operations possible

Installation

Auto-Detection (Recommended)

The skill automatically detects if setup is needed!

When you have the carbon-flow plugin installed globally but haven't set up Graphite Skill in your project, the SessionStart hook will automatically prompt you with:

⚠️ Graphite Skill Setup Required

Would you like to set up Graphite Skill in this project now?

If yes, run: bash ~/.claude/plugins/mad-skills/graphite-skill/install.sh --project

Simply run the provided command and the skill activates immediately. No need to remember or look up installation steps.

Prerequisites

• Git repository

• Claude Code 2.0+

• (Optional) Graphite CLI for Graphite-specific workflows

• (Optional) jq for JSON processing in hooks

Manual Installation

Navigate to your project

cd /path/to/your/project

Run the installer

bash ~/.claude/plugins/mad-skills/graphite-skill/install.sh --project

The installer will:

- Copy hooks to .claude/plugins/graphite-skill/

- Configure SessionStart hook

- Set up agent templates

- Make scripts executable

Manual Installation

In your project

mkdir -p .claude/plugins/graphite-skill/hooks

Copy files from the carbon skill directory

cp ~/.claude/plugins/mad-skills/graphite-skill/hooks/session-start.sh .claude/plugins/graphite-skill/hooks/ cp ~/.claude/plugins/mad-skills/graphite-skill/settings.json .claude/plugins/graphite-skill/

Make hook executable

chmod +x .claude/plugins/graphite-skill/hooks/session-start.sh

Optional: Copy agent template

mkdir -p .claude/agents cp ~/.claude/plugins/mad-skills/graphite-skill/agents/graphite-ops-template.md .claude/agents/

Verification

Test hook execution

bash .claude/plugins/graphite-skill/hooks/session-start.sh

Should output JSON with hookSpecificOutput

Test in Claude Code

claude --debug hooks

Look for:

[SessionStart] Executing hook: session-start.sh

[SessionStart] Hook completed successfully

How It Works

SessionStart Hook Mechanism

The skill uses a SessionStart hook to inject context-optimization patterns automatically:

1. Session starts → SessionStart hook fires
2. Hook detects: git repo, project setup status, Graphite CLI, custom agent 3a. If not set up → Prompts user to run install.sh (auto-detection) 3b. If set up → Hook injects ~800 tokens of delegation patterns into context
3. Claude knows: Use Task delegation for verbose operations automatically
4. User benefits: Automatic context efficiency, zero manual effort

Auto-Detection Logic:

The hook intelligently detects whether per-project setup has been completed by checking for the existence of .claude/plugins/graphite-skill/hooks/session-start.sh in your project directory.

• Not set up: Hook displays setup prompt with installation instructions

• Set up: Hook injects delegation patterns and activates context optimization

This means you never have to remember installation steps - the skill tells you exactly what to do.

Automatic Delegation Pattern

When you request git/Graphite operations, Claude automatically:

• Recognizes the operation will return verbose output

• Delegates to Task subagent with explicit instructions:

• Use --json flags for structured output

• Redirect errors with 2>/dev/null

• Parse and summarize results

• Subagent executes in isolated context (absorbs verbose output)

• Subagent returns concise summary (<50 tokens)

• You receive actionable summary without context pollution

No manual invocation needed - patterns apply automatically!

Workflows

Basic Git Operations

Checking status:

You: "Check git status" Claude: [Delegates automatically] → "3 modified, 2 staged, 1 untracked | Ready to commit"

Viewing commit history:

You: "Show me recent commits" Claude: [Delegates automatically] → "Last 10: abc123 Feature, def456 Fix, ... | 3 authors, 2 days"

Reviewing changes:

You: "Show git diff" Claude: [Delegates automatically] → "+47/-12 across 3 files | auth.ts, api.ts, tests/ | No conflicts"

Graphite Workflows

Stack status:

You: "Check my Graphite stack" Claude: [Delegates automatically] → "✓ feature/auth | 3 PRs | #456 (needs review), #457 (approved), #458 (draft)"

PR management:

You: "Show PRs needing review" Claude: [Delegates automatically] → "📋 2 PRs: #456 (Auth - awaiting review), #459 (Docs - changes requested)"

Submitting stack:

You: "Submit my stack for review" Claude: [Delegates automatically] → "✓ 3 PRs created | CI running on all | Ready for review"

Stack navigation:

You: "Navigate to next branch in stack" Claude: [Delegates automatically] → "Switched to feature/auth-ui (3/5 in stack)"

Supported Operations

Git Commands (auto-delegated):

• git log --graph

• Commit history with summarization

• git diff

• Changes with statistics

• git status

• Status with file grouping

• git branch

• Branch listing with current indicator

• All other verbose git commands

Graphite CLI Commands (auto-delegated):

• gt stack

• Stack status with PR summaries

• gt pr list

• PR listing with filtering

• gt pr info

• Detailed PR data with parsing

• gt submit

• Submission with confirmation

• gt log

• Stack history with formatting

• All other verbose gt commands

Two Approaches: Task Tool vs Custom Agent

Task Tool (Default - Recommended)

Zero setup, works immediately with automatic delegation:

You: "Check my stack" Claude: [Uses Task delegation automatically] → Concise summary

Characteristics:

• ⚡ No configuration needed

• 📦 Works universally

• 🎯 Full context isolation

• ⚪ Standard terminal output

• ✅ Recommended for most users

Custom Agent (Optional - Power Users)

Enhanced UX with colored terminal output:

One-time setup in Claude Code

/agents create Name: graphite-ops Color: cyan Scope: project Prompt: Load from .claude/agents/graphite-ops-template.md

Use with color

You: "graphite-ops check my stack" graphite-ops [cyan]: ✓ feature/auth | 3 PRs | Review #456

Characteristics:

• 🎨 Colored terminal output (cyan)

• 👤 Consistent persona

• 📁 Git-tracked definition

• 🎯 Same context isolation

• 🔧 Requires one-time agent creation

Agent Template Location: graphite-skill/agents/graphite-ops-template.md

Team Distribution

Graphite Skill is designed for team-wide adoption:

One team member sets up

./install.sh --project git add .claude/ git commit -m "Add Graphite Skill context-optimization for git/Graphite" git push

Other team members pull and get:

✓ Automatic context optimization

✓ Consistent behavior across team

✓ Zero per-developer setup

Team benefits:

• Consistent git/Graphite workflows

• Automatic efficiency for all developers

• Git-tracked configuration (no separate distribution)

• SessionStart hook activates automatically

Configuration

Default Configuration

The skill works out-of-box with sensible defaults. No configuration required.

Custom Configuration

Adjust behavior by editing .claude/plugins/graphite-skill/settings.json :

{ "contextTokens": 800, "delegationThreshold": 100, "autoDetectGraphite": true, "autoDetectCustomAgent": true, "enableTaskDelegation": true, "enableCustomAgent": true }

Settings explanation:

• contextTokens : Amount of pattern context injected (default: 800)

• delegationThreshold : Token size to trigger delegation (default: 100)

• autoDetectGraphite : Automatically detect Graphite CLI presence (default: true)

• autoDetectCustomAgent : Detect and suggest custom agent if available (default: true)

• enableTaskDelegation : Enable automatic Task delegation (default: true)

• enableCustomAgent : Enable custom agent support (default: true)

Efficiency Metrics

Metric Before (Raw CLI) After (Graphite Skill) Improvement

Tokens consumed 4,108 18 225x

Context pollution High Minimal 99.6% reduction

Response quality Degraded Optimal Focused reasoning

User effort Manual patterns Zero Automatic

Operations before exhaustion 2-3 100+ 50x

Troubleshooting

Hook not firing

Check permissions

chmod +x .claude/plugins/graphite-skill/hooks/session-start.sh

Check settings.json exists

ls -la .claude/settings.json

Test manually

bash .claude/plugins/graphite-skill/hooks/session-start.sh | jq .

Context not appearing

Verify hook returns correct JSON

bash .claude/plugins/graphite-skill/hooks/session-start.sh |
jq '.hookSpecificOutput.hookEventName'

Should output: "SessionStart"

Patterns not applied

Start Claude with debug mode:

claude --debug hooks

Check for:

- Hook execution confirmation

- Context injection success

- Any error messages

Delegation not automatic

If Claude doesn't delegate automatically:

• Verify SessionStart hook is active: claude --debug hooks

• Check hook output contains delegation patterns

• Manually request delegation: "Use Task delegation for this"

• Review hook configuration in settings.json

Files and Structure

graphite-skill/ ├── SKILL.md # This file - complete skill reference ├── install.sh # Automated installation script ├── settings.json # Configuration settings ├── hooks/ │ └── session-start.sh # SessionStart hook for pattern injection ├── agents/ │ └── graphite-ops-template.md # Custom agent template (optional) ├── examples/ │ └── team-configuration.md # Example team configurations ├── test/ │ └── verify-installation.sh # Installation verification script ├── QUICKSTART.md # Quick start guide └── README.md # Detailed documentation

References (from root skill directory):

• QUICKSTART.md - 5-minute setup guide
• README.md - Complete documentation
• examples/team-configuration.md - Team setup examples

When to Use This Skill

Always active - The SessionStart hook applies patterns automatically, so you don't need to manually invoke this skill. Just use git/Graphite naturally:

• Checking stack status

• Reviewing PRs

• Viewing commit history

• Managing branches

• Submitting for review

• Any git/Graphite operation

The skill is already working if:

• SessionStart hook is installed

• Claude automatically delegates verbose operations

• You receive concise summaries instead of raw output

References

For detailed information:

• Quick Start: graphite-skill/QUICKSTART.md

• 5-minute setup guide

• Installation: graphite-skill/install.sh

• Automated installation

• Team Setup: graphite-skill/examples/team-configuration.md

• Team configuration examples

• Agent Template: graphite-skill/agents/graphite-ops-template.md

• Custom agent definition

Status

• ✅ Production-ready

• ✅ Tested with Claude Code 2.0+

• ✅ Compatible with Graphite CLI 1.0+

• ✅ Team-ready with git-tracked configuration

• ✅ Zero-friction automatic activation