Finishing a Development Branch

Adapted from obra/superpowers for Cursor IDE.

Overview

Guide completion of development work by presenting clear options and handling chosen workflow.

Core principle: Verify tests → Present options → Execute choice → Clean up.

Announce at start: "I'm using the finishing-a-development-branch skill to complete this work."

The Process

Step 1: Verify Tests

Run the project's test suite. If tests fail: STOP. Fix before proceeding.

Step 2: Determine Base Branch

bash

git merge-base HEAD main 2>/dev/null || git merge-base HEAD master 2>/dev/null

Step 3: Present Options

code

Implementation complete. What would you like to do?

1. Merge back to <base> locally
2. Push and create a Pull Request
3. Keep the branch as-is (I'll handle it later)
4. Discard this work

Step 4: Execute Choice

Option 1 - Merge: Checkout base, pull, merge, verify tests, delete branch, cleanup worktree.

Option 2 - PR: Push branch, create PR with gh pr create, cleanup worktree.

Option 3 - Keep: Report branch/worktree location. Don't cleanup.

Option 4 - Discard: Confirm with typed "discard", then delete branch and worktree.

Step 5: Cleanup Worktree

For Options 1, 2, 4: git worktree remove <path> For Option 3: Keep worktree.

Red Flags

Never:

•Proceed with failing tests
•Merge without verifying tests on result
•Delete work without confirmation
•Force-push without explicit request