Branch Protection Skill

MANDATORY by default. Branch protection is assumed enabled unless explicitly disabled.

Branch Hierarchy (CRITICAL)

main     ← STABLE RELEASE ONLY (production-ready)
  ↑
dev      ← INTEGRATION BRANCH (all features merge here first)
  ↑
feature/* ← DEVELOPMENT (where work happens)
fix/*
chore/*

Workflow Rules

NEVER merge directly to main from feature branches.

Default Behavior

Branch protection is ON unless git.branch_protection=false in ica.config.json:

{
  "git": {
    "branch_protection": false
  }
}

Protected Branches

• •main - Stable releases only (from dev PRs)
• •dev - Integration branch (from feature PRs)
• •Configurable via git.default_branch setting

Rules

NEVER Do (Unless User Explicitly Requests)

# Direct commit to protected branch
git checkout main && git commit
git checkout dev && git commit

# Force push
git push --force

# Destructive operations
git reset --hard
git checkout .
git restore .
git clean -f
git branch -D

# PR directly to main (WRONG!)
gh pr create --base main   # Only for releases!

ALWAYS Do

# Work on feature branch
git checkout -b feature/my-change

# Commit to feature branch
git commit -m "feat: Add feature"

# Push feature branch
git push -u origin feature/my-change

# Create PR to DEV (not main!)
gh pr create --base dev

Commit Workflow

1. •Create branch: git checkout -b feature/description
2. •Make changes: Edit files
3. •Test: Run tests
4. •Commit: git commit -m "type: description"
5. •Push: git push -u origin feature/description
6. •PR to dev: gh pr create --base dev
7. •Merge to dev: Via PR after approval
8. •Release to main: Separate PR from dev → main (when stable)

Self-Check Before Git Operations

1. •Am I on a feature branch? → If on main/dev, create branch first
2. •Is this destructive? → Only proceed if user explicitly requested
3. •Am I PRing to main? → Should this go to dev first?
4. •Is this a release? → Only then PR to main

Release Process

Only create PRs to main when:

1. •Dev branch is stable and tested
2. •All features for release are merged to dev
3. •User explicitly requests a release

# Release workflow (dev → main)
git checkout dev
git pull origin dev
git checkout -b release/v10.2.0
gh pr create --base main --title "release: v10.2.0"

Integration

Works with:

• •git-privacy skill - No AI attribution in commits
• •commit-pr skill - Commit message formatting, defaults PR to dev
• •process skill - Development workflow phases (including Phase 4: Release)