DevOps Workflow Guardian

Purpose

Ensure all git operations follow best practices: conventional commits, proper branching, clean merges, and user-confirmed actions. This skill orchestrates with test-driven-development and using-git-worktrees skills when appropriate.

Quick Reference

Operation	Key Steps
Commit	Analyze → Validate → Compose message → Confirm → Execute
Merge	Check sync → Identify conflicts → Resolve → Confirm → Execute
PR	Analyze all commits → Generate description → Confirm → Create

Iron Rule: Never execute git operations without user confirmation.

---

Commit Workflow

1. Analyze Changes

# Check current state
git status
git diff --staged
git diff  # unstaged changes

Identify:

• What files changed and why
• Logical grouping (single concern per commit)
• Sensitive files that should NOT be committed

Red flags - STOP and warn user:

• .env, .env.local, credentials.json, *.pem, *.key
• Files containing API keys, passwords, tokens
• Large binary files (>10MB)
• Node_modules, build artifacts, cache directories

2. Validate Before Commit

Run checks (if configured in project):

# Check for test command
npm test 2>/dev/null || yarn test 2>/dev/null || pytest 2>/dev/null

If tests fail:

"Tests are failing. Would you like to:

1. Fix the tests first (recommended)
2. Commit anyway with a note about failing tests
3. Skip tests for this commit"

If no test command found: Proceed, but note in commit if significant changes.

3. Compose Commit Message

Follow Conventional Commits format:

type(scope): description

[optional body]

[optional footer]

Determine type from changes:

Change Type	Commit Type
New feature	feat
Bug fix	fix
Documentation	docs
Refactoring (no behavior change)	refactor
Performance improvement	perf
Tests	test
Build/dependencies	build
CI/CD changes	ci
Formatting/style	style
Maintenance/chores	chore

Breaking changes: Add an exclamation mark (!) after the type and include a BREAKING CHANGE: footer.

4. Confirm with User

Present for approval:

Proposed commit:
─────────────────────────────────────
feat(auth): add JWT token validation

Add middleware to validate JWT tokens on protected routes.
Includes token expiry checking and refresh logic.
─────────────────────────────────────

Files to commit:
  M src/middleware/auth.ts
  A src/utils/jwt.ts
  M src/routes/protected.ts

Proceed with commit? [y/n/edit]

Wait for explicit approval. Never auto-commit.

5. Execute Commit

git add <files>
git commit -m "$(cat <<'EOF'
type(scope): description

Body text here.

🤖 Generated with [Claude Code](https://claude.com/claude-code)

Co-Authored-By: Claude <noreply@anthropic.com>
EOF
)"

---

Merge Workflow

1. Check Branch Status

# Ensure we're on the right branch
git branch --show-current

# Check if up to date with remote
git fetch origin
git status -uno

# Check relationship with target branch
git log --oneline main..HEAD  # commits to merge
git log --oneline HEAD..main  # commits we're behind

2. Identify Conflicts

# Dry-run merge to check for conflicts
git merge --no-commit --no-ff main
git merge --abort  # if conflicts, abort and report

If conflicts exist: See Conflict Resolution

3. Choose Strategy

Based on situation, recommend:

Situation	Strategy
Local unpushed commits	Rebase onto target
Shared/pushed branch	Merge (preserve history)
Many small commits	Squash merge
Long-running feature	Merge (avoid repeated rebasing)

See Branching Strategies for details.

4. Confirm and Execute

Merge plan:
─────────────────────────────────────
Source: feature/auth (3 commits ahead)
Target: main (2 commits behind)
Strategy: Rebase then merge (recommended)

Steps:
1. git fetch origin main
2. git rebase origin/main
3. git checkout main
4. git merge feature/auth
─────────────────────────────────────

Proceed? [y/n]

---

Pull Request Workflow

1. Analyze All Commits

# Get full commit history for this branch
git log --oneline main..HEAD

# Get full diff against target
git diff main...HEAD --stat

Review ALL commits, not just the latest. PR description must reflect complete changes.

2. Check PR Readiness

• All tests passing
• Branch up to date with target (or conflicts identified)
• No WIP commits (or squash them)
• No sensitive files included

3. Generate PR Description

## Summary
<2-3 bullet points describing what this PR does>

## Changes
<List of significant changes by area>

## Test Plan
- [ ] Unit tests added/updated
- [ ] Manual testing completed
- [ ] Edge cases considered

## Related Issues
Closes #<issue-number>

🤖 Generated with [Claude Code](https://claude.com/claude-code)

4. Create PR

# Push branch if needed
git push -u origin $(git branch --show-current)

# Create PR
gh pr create --title "type(scope): description" --body "$(cat <<'EOF'
## Summary
...

🤖 Generated with [Claude Code](https://claude.com/claude-code)
EOF
)"

Return PR URL to user.

---

Orchestration

When to Invoke Other Skills

Before implementation work:

"This looks like a feature implementation. Invoking test-driven-development skill to ensure TDD practices."

When workspace isolation needed:

"This work could benefit from an isolated workspace. Invoking using-git-worktrees skill."

This skill handles:

• All git commit operations
• Branch management
• Merge/rebase operations
• PR creation and updates
• Conflict resolution guidance

---

Safety Rules

1. Never force push to main/master without explicit user request and warning
2. Never commit sensitive files - always warn and exclude
3. Never auto-commit - always show and confirm
4. Never amend pushed commits without checking authorship first
5. Never skip hooks (--no-verify) unless user explicitly requests

Before Amending

# Check authorship
git log -1 --format='%an %ae'

# Check if pushed
git status  # "Your branch is ahead of..."

Only amend if:

• You are the author, AND
• Commit is not pushed, OR
• User explicitly confirms

---

Common Patterns

Atomic Commits

One logical change per commit. If you find yourself writing "and" in the commit message, split it.

Bad: feat: add login page and fix header styling and update deps

Good: Three separate commits:

1. feat(auth): add login page
2. fix(ui): correct header styling on mobile
3. build: update dependencies

Commit Frequency

• Commit when a logical unit of work is complete
• Commit before switching context
• Commit before risky operations (refactoring, rebasing)

Branch Naming

type/description-in-kebab-case

Examples:
feature/user-authentication
fix/login-redirect-loop
refactor/extract-validation-utils

---

Troubleshooting

Problem	Solution
Committed sensitive file	git reset HEAD~1, remove file, recommit
Wrong commit message	git commit --amend (if not pushed)
Committed to wrong branch	git reset HEAD~1, stash, checkout correct branch, apply
Merge conflict hell	Abort, try rebase with smaller steps, or see conflict resolution guide
Tests failing in CI but not locally	Check environment differences, run with --verbose

---

Verification Checklist

Before finalizing any git operation:

• Changes analyzed and understood
• Sensitive files excluded
• Tests passing (or user acknowledged)
• Commit message follows conventional format
• User explicitly confirmed action
• No force operations on shared branches