git-workflow_skill

Overview

This skill automates and guides git workflow tasks for clean, reviewable history and repeatable releases. It helps create atomic commits, enforce conventional commit messages, manage branches with clear prefixes, and generate changelogs. Use it to streamline commit creation, branch naming, and release bumps in Python projects.

How this skill works

The skill inspects the working tree and staged changes, runs pre-commit hooks, and helps construct conventional commit messages with optional scope and body. It can create branches using recommended prefixes, clean up stale branches, and run a changelog generator that analyzes commits to suggest version bumps. Commands show status, preview changelogs, generate releases, and guide re-staging when hooks modify files.

When to use it

• You want to commit all changes following conventional commit format
• You need to create or name a branch for a new feature, fix, or release
• You’re preparing a release and need an automated changelog and version bump
• Pre-commit hooks modified files and you need re-staging guidance
• You want to clean up merged or stale branches safely

Best practices

• Write small, self-contained commits that pass tests and compile locally
• Use prefixed branch names (feature/, fix/, hotfix/, release/, docs/, chore/)
• Follow conventional commit subject rules: imperative, <=50 chars, no trailing period
• Run pre-commit hooks before finalizing a commit and re-stage if hooks change files
• Avoid force-pushing protected branches; use PRs for main, develop, release branches

Example use cases

• Create a feature branch: git checkout -b feature/descriptive-name
• Commit a bug fix with a multi-line message including Fixes #issue
• Generate a changelog preview, choose a bump level, and produce CHANGELOG.md
• Clean up local branches that were already merged into main
• Stage selectively with git add -p and produce small, reviewable commits