finish-hotfix_skill

Overview

This skill automates finishing a hotfix branch: validating branch state, normalizing the supplied version, updating the changelog, running tests, merging and tagging, and cleaning up the hotfix branch. It follows GitFlow conventions and integrates changelog rules and conventional commits to ensure a traceable release. The flow stops and reports if tests fail or the working tree is dirty.

How this skill works

The skill inspects the current git context (current branch, status, recent commits, and version files) and validates the branch name follows hotfix/* and that the working tree is clean. It normalizes an input version (accepts v1.2.3 or 1.2.3, normalizes to 1.2.3, tags as v1.2.3), runs the test suite if present, generates a changelog entry from user-facing commits, commits the changelog with a conventional commit and Co-Authored-By footer, merges into production and integration branches, creates a version tag, pushes changes, and optionally deletes the hotfix branch locally and remotely.

When to use it

• You have a critical fix on a hotfix/* branch ready to release.
• You need consistent changelog and tagging for a hotfix release.
• You want to run tests and block merges when they fail.
• You want to propagate the hotfix to both production and integration branches.
• You prefer automated conventional commit and Co-Authored-By metadata for the changelog commit.

Best practices

• Ensure your working tree is clean before running the skill to avoid lost work.
• Provide the target version as vX.Y.Z or X.Y.Z; the skill normalizes it to X.Y.Z and tags vX.Y.Z.
• Keep user-facing commit messages (feat, fix, refactor, docs, perf, deprecate, remove, security); skip chore/build/ci/test/merge commits.
• Run the skill in a CI runner or local environment with push rights for the production and integration branches.
• If the hotfix branch is shared, choose to keep it to avoid disrupting other collaborators.

Example use cases

• Finish a hotfix branch named hotfix/urgent-fix and release version 1.2.3 with changelog entry and v1.2.3 tag.
• Run the skill in CI to enforce tests pass before merging a hotfix into main and develop.
• Automatically update or create CHANGELOG.md with commits since the previous tag and commit it with a Co-Authored-By footer.
• Propagate a critical security fix from hotfix branch into production and integration branches, then clean up the hotfix branch.
• Normalize user-provided version input and create a consistent tagged release across branches.