Repoint Branch

Extract independent changes from a compound branch into a new branch targeting main.

Usage

# Interactive - shows changes, asks what to extract
/repoint-branch

# Extract specific files/directories to auto-named branch
/repoint-branch .claude/guidelines/

# Extract multiple paths
/repoint-branch .claude/guidelines/ README.md src/config.py

# Glob pattern
/repoint-branch ".claude/**/*.md"

# Specify new branch name with --name
/repoint-branch .claude/guidelines/ --name feature/guidelines-lite

# Full example
/repoint-branch .claude/guidelines/ .claude/commands/ --name feature/claude-config-lite

Instructions

1. •

   Parse arguments:

   • •Extract --name <branch-name> if provided
   • •Remaining args are file paths, directories, or glob patterns
   • •If no paths provided, will prompt interactively
2. •

   Get current context:

   bash

   git branch --show-current  # Current branch
   git fetch origin main
   git diff --name-only origin/main...HEAD  # All changed files
   

3. •

   Determine files to extract (store as FILES_TO_EXTRACT):

   • •If paths provided:
     • •Expand globs: git diff --name-only origin/main...HEAD -- <patterns>
     • •Filter to only files that actually changed
   • •If no paths:
     • •Show all changed files
     • •Ask user: "Which files/directories should be extracted to the new branch?"
   • •Store the resulting file list as FILES_TO_EXTRACT for use in later steps
4. •

   Validate independence:

   • •Show the files to be extracted
   • •Ask: "These files will be extracted. Confirm they don't depend on other changes in this branch? (y/n)"
5. •

   Determine new branch name:

   • •If --name provided, use it
   • •Otherwise, suggest based on current branch: <current-branch>-lite
   • •Ask user to confirm or provide alternative
6. •

   Create new branch from main:

   bash

   git checkout origin/main
   git checkout -b <new-branch-name>
   

7. •

   Apply the changes: For each file in FILES_TO_EXTRACT:

   bash

   # Ensure parent directories exist
   mkdir -p $(dirname <filepath>)
   # Get the file content from the original branch
   git show <original-branch>:<filepath> > <filepath>
   

   Stage and commit all extracted files:

   bash

   git add <FILES_TO_EXTRACT>
   git commit -m "<descriptive message>
   
   Co-Authored-By: Claude Opus 4.5 <noreply@anthropic.com>"
   

8. •

   Push and offer to create PR:

   bash

   git push -u origin <new-branch-name>
   

   Ask: "Create a PR to main? (y/n)" If yes, run /pr skill or:

   bash

   gh pr create --base main --title "<title>" --body "..."
   

9. •

   Return to original branch:

   bash

   git checkout <original-branch>
   

   Inform user: "Created <new-branch-name> with extracted changes. Your original branch is unchanged."

Example Session

$ /repoint-branch .claude/guidelines/ --name feature/guidelines-lite

Current branch: feature/phase2 (based on feature/phase1)

Files to extract:
  .claude/guidelines/git-workflow.md
  .claude/guidelines/python-practices.md

These will be copied to new branch 'feature/guidelines-lite' targeting main.
Confirm these don't depend on feature/phase1 changes? (y/n) y

Creating branch from main...
Applying changes...
Committed: "Add git workflow and python practice guidelines"
Pushed to origin/feature/guidelines-lite

Create PR to main? (y/n) y
PR created: https://github.com/user/repo/pull/42

Returned to feature/phase2.

Important Notes

• •Original branch remains unchanged - changes are copied, not moved
• •Only extracts file contents, not commit history
• •Verify extracted files don't import/depend on code from parent branches
• •If changes depend on parent branch code, this will create broken code on main