Catch Up on Branch Changes Skill

Catch Up on Branch Changes

Review changes made on current branch since it forked from base.

Workflow

1. Run branch diff script

~/.claude/skills/catchup/scripts/branch-diff.sh

This outputs:

Branch name and base branch
Changed files list
Diff stats (insertions/deletions)
Commit history

2. Analyze changes

Prioritize reading (in order):

Config files (package.json, tsconfig, etc.)
Schema/model changes
Core logic files (most insertions)
Test files

3. Summarize

Provide high-level summary:

Purpose: What this branch accomplishes
Scope: Key files/areas modified
Impact: What parts of system affected
Patterns: Any architectural changes
Review focus: Suggested areas to examine closely

4. Restore tasks

Invoke /restore-tasks to recover any tasks from previous sessions on this branch.

Manual Commands

If script unavailable:

# Get current branch
git branch --show-current

# Detect base (main or master)
git rev-parse --verify origin/main >/dev/null 2>&1 && echo "main" || echo "master"

# Fetch latest
git fetch origin main

# Find fork point
git merge-base origin/main HEAD

# Changed files
git diff $(git merge-base origin/main HEAD)..HEAD --name-only

# Diff stats
git diff $(git merge-base origin/main HEAD)..HEAD --stat

# Commit log
git log $(git merge-base origin/main HEAD)..HEAD --oneline

Error Handling

| Situation | Action | |-----------|--------| | On main/master | Report "Already on base branch, nothing to compare" | | No remote | Use local main/master as base | | Detached HEAD | Report current commit, ask user for base branch |

Agent Skills: Catch Up on Branch Changes

Install this agent skill to your local

Skill Files