github_skill

Overview

This skill collects practical GitHub workflow patterns for pull requests, code review, branching, and repository management. It focuses on predictable PR handling, clean history for stacked PRs, and automations that reduce manual coordination. The guidance is optimized for agents helping engineers or repo maintainers implement and follow these patterns.

How this skill works

The skill inspects common PR workflows and recommends concrete patterns such as how to author, stack, and merge PRs to preserve a clean history. It also codifies code-review expectations, branching strategies, and simple automation rules so agents can suggest or apply them consistently. Use it to generate step-by-step actions for PR maintenance, reviewer assignment, and merge sequencing.

When to use it

• When creating or reviewing pull requests and you want consistent conventions
• When managing stacked or dependent PRs that must land independently
• When setting up branch protection, CI triggers, or repo automation
• When enforcing review standards or simplifying merge strategies
• When onboarding contributors to your repo’s GitHub workflow

Best practices

• Structure PRs around a single intent and keep changes small and reviewable
• Use stacked PRs for dependent work but merge each as an individual squash commit
• Document branch naming, review expectations, and merge rules in a concise guide
• Automate reviewer assignment and status checks to reduce manual coordination
• Rebase or refresh stacked branches only to resolve conflicts, not to hide intent

Example use cases

• Convert a feature split across branches into a sequence of stacked PRs that merge cleanly as squash commits
• Define repo rules that require reviews and passing CI before merge, and implement automation to enforce them
• Assist a contributor in breaking a large change into smaller, reviewable PRs following the single-intent principle
• Automate labeling and reviewer assignment for incoming PRs to speed triage
• Create a short contributor guide that explains branching, PR stacking, and merge behavior