Git Workflow Skill

Consistent git practices, recovery patterns, and safe operations.

⚠️ Staleness Warning

Git core is stable, but GitHub features (Actions, CLI, Copilot integration) evolve.

Refresh triggers:

• •GitHub CLI major updates
• •GitHub Actions runner changes
• •New git features (e.g., git switch, git restore)
• •GitHub Copilot CLI integration

Last validated: January 2026 (Git 2.43+, GitHub CLI 2.x)

Check current state: Git Release Notes, GitHub CLI

Commit Message Convention

type(scope): brief description

- Detail 1
- Detail 2

Types: feat, fix, refactor, docs, chore, test, style

Examples:

feat(skills): add git-workflow skill
fix(sync): resolve race condition in background sync
refactor(skills): migrate domain-knowledge to skills architecture
docs(readme): update installation instructions
chore(deps): bump typescript to 5.3

Before Risky Operations

# ALWAYS commit before risky operations
git add -A; git commit -m "checkpoint: before [risky thing]"

# For extra safety, tag it
git tag "safe-point-$(Get-Date -Format 'yyyy-MM-dd-HHmm')"

Recovery Patterns

Undo Last Commit (keep changes)

git reset --soft HEAD~1

Restore Single File

git checkout HEAD -- path/to/file

Restore Folder

git checkout HEAD -- .github/

Hard Reset to Known Good State

git reset --hard HEAD           # Discard all uncommitted changes
git reset --hard origin/main    # Reset to remote state
git reset --hard <tag-name>     # Reset to tagged state

Find Last Good Commit

git log --oneline -20           # Recent history
git log --oneline .github/ -10  # History for specific folder

Branching Strategy

main
 └── feature/short-description
 └── fix/issue-number
 └── release/v3.7.0

Rules:

• •main is always deployable
• •Feature branches for experimental work
• •Merge via PR when possible, direct commit for small fixes
• •Delete branches after merge

Conflict Resolution

1. •Pull before push: git pull --rebase origin main
2. •If conflicts: Resolve in editor, then git add . + git rebase --continue
3. •If stuck: git rebase --abort to start over

Stashing

git stash                       # Save work-in-progress
git stash pop                   # Restore and delete stash
git stash list                  # See all stashes
git stash drop                  # Delete top stash

Anti-Patterns

• •❌ git push --force on shared branches
• •❌ Committing secrets or credentials
• •❌ Giant commits with unrelated changes
• •❌ Vague messages like "fix stuff" or "update"

Synapses

See synapses.json for connections.