Git Workflows Skill | Agent Skills

Git Workflows

Generate comprehensive pull request descriptions by analyzing git state: staged changes, commit history, and diffs between commits or branches.

Git Data Scripts

Use the scripts in scripts/ to extract git data. Do not run raw git diff or git log commands directly — always use these scripts to ensure consistent output and exclude patterns.

scripts/git-diff.sh [repo-root] <ancestor>         # Diff between ancestor and HEAD
scripts/git-cached-diff.sh [repo-root]             # Staged (cached) changes
scripts/git-unstaged-diff.sh [repo-root]           # Unstaged changes (working tree vs index)
scripts/git-commit-messages.sh [repo-root] <ancestor>  # Commit messages from ancestor to HEAD

Always provide the target Git repository root explicitly. Every script accepts an optional first argument that specifies the root directory of the target Git repository. When omitted it defaults to the current working directory — but relying on the default is error-prone because the agent may be cd'd into the skill directory or another unrelated location. Pass the repository root explicitly to guarantee the scripts operate on the correct repo. The argument is validated with git rev-parse --git-dir; if a path is provided but is not a valid Git repository, the script will exit with an error rather than silently falling back to .:

scripts/git-diff.sh /path/to/repo main
# NOT: cd /path/to/repo && scripts/git-diff.sh main  (avoids wrong-cwd bugs)

Scripts are resolved relative to this skill file's directory. Always use the absolute path of the skill directory when invoking them (e.g., <skill-dir>/scripts/git-diff.sh — the agent knows <skill-dir> as the directory containing SKILL.md).

All scripts source common.sh, which provides the parse_repo_root helper for validating and extracting the optional repo-root argument, as well as build_exclude_args for pathspec exclusions.

Exclude patterns: Files matching patterns in scripts/excludes.conf are excluded from diff output. Set the GIT_SKILL_EXCLUDES env variable (colon-separated patterns) to override.

Building Blocks

Code Review Tasks (Always read these files if you are performing any kind of code review task):
- Read references/general_code_review_guidelines.md for the general guidelines.
- Read references/python_code_review_guidelines.md if you are reviewing Python code.
- Read references/rust_code_review_guidelines.md if you are reviewing Rust code.
Auto-Commit Workflow:
- Read references/auto_commit_workflow.md for the grouping algorithm and step-by-step process.

Operations

Review Changes — Code review of staged, unstaged, or cross-commit diffs
Generate Commit Message Summary — Summarize commit history from a given ancestor
Generate Commit Message for Staged Changes — Draft a conventional commit message for staged changes
Create Pull Request Description — Compose a structured PR body from diffs and commits
Auto-Commit Unstaged Changes — Classify, group, and commit unstaged changes automatically

1. Review Changes

Read the appropriate reference files for code review tasks (see Building Blocks above) before proceeding. Then choose the appropriate sub-operation based on the user's request:

1a. Review Staged Changes

Review modifications that have been staged (added to the index) but not yet committed:

Get cached changes: scripts/git-cached-diff.sh <repo-root> (where <repo-root> is the absolute path to the target repository)
Follow the code review guidelines to evaluate changes

1b. Review Unstaged Changes

Review modifications in the working directory that have not yet been staged:

Get unstaged changes: scripts/git-unstaged-diff.sh <repo-root>
Follow the code review guidelines to evaluate changes

1c. Review Changes Between Two Commits

Review the diff introduced between any two commits, branches, or refs:

Identify the two refs (e.g., HEAD~3 and HEAD, or main and a feature branch).
Get the diff: scripts/git-diff.sh <repo-root> <base-ref> (compares base-ref to HEAD).
Optionally gather the commit messages: scripts/git-commit-messages.sh <repo-root> <base-ref> to understand the intent behind the changes.
Follow the code review guidelines to evaluate changes

Present findings clearly, distinguishing between blocking issues and optional suggestions.

2. Generate Commit Message Summary

Extract commit messages to understand the history:

scripts/git-commit-messages.sh <repo-root> <commit-or-branch>

Returns commit hashes and messages, useful for:

Understanding changes across multiple commits
Identifying key features/bug fixes
Creating a changelog-style summary

3. Generate Commit Message for Cached/Staged Changes

Create a descriptive commit message based on staged changes through an iterative review process:

Review staged changes - Read references/general_code_review_guidelines.md (and any language-specific guidelines), then perform a code review using the process described in the "1a. Review Staged Changes" section.
Present findings and wait for feedback - Show issues and suggestions to user. User may:

Edit the staged changes
Acknowledge issues if any but proceed
Ask for clarification
Or simply confirm they have reviewed the findings and approve moving on Only move on to the the next step after an explicit approval from the user.

Load history - Load the three most recent commit messages (e.g., scripts/git-commit-messages.sh <repo-root> HEAD~3) to ensure historical context.
Draft the commit message - write it to {cwd}/cache/commit_message.txt in the conventional commit format ({cwd} is the directory in which the agent was invoked; first remove the file if it already exists, then write to it):
```
<type>(<scope>): <subject>

<body>

Commit message generated by <your name>
```

Type: feat, fix, docs, style, refactor, test, chore
Scope: (optional) the area of code affected
Description: brief explanation of changes
Body: itemized details of changes. Highlight breaking changes or issue references
Footer: Ask the user what your name is if uncertain. The should be in the format: <harness name> (<model name>) (e.g., Claude Code (Sonnet 4.6))

Display the commit message - User may:

Request revision
Approve the commit message -> Commit the changes with the message and end the process.

4. Create Pull Request Description

Use the diff and recent commits to compose a structured PR body:

Collect the diff for the target branch, preferably against the base (e.g., origin/main).
Gather its commit messages to capture intent and progression.
Extract:
- Summary: A concise paragraph (1-2 sentences) describing the overall intent of the branch.
- Key Changes: Bullet list that highlights the most important file edits or feature additions.
- Commit History: Chronological list of commits (hash + message) so reviewers can trace the work.

Format suggestions:

## Summary
[Commit-driven overview]

## Key Changes
- `[File]`: [Primary modification]
- ...

Workflow Notes

Identify the merge base (usually origin/main or main).
Run scripts/git-diff.sh <repo-root> origin/main and scripts/git-commit-messages.sh <repo-root> origin/main to gather the data.
Parse and organize the collected information into the sections above before sharing with the user.

5. Auto-Commit Unstaged Changes

Automatically analyze, group, and commit unstaged changes into organized conventional commits.

Read references/auto_commit_workflow.md for the full workflow. Summary:

Precondition — Verify no staged changes exist; stop and ask the user to clear them if found.
Collect — Gather unstaged diff and untracked files.
Classify, group & present plan — Parse changes into commit groups by type and scope. Show proposed groups. Only proceed after explicit user approval.
Execute — Stage and commit each group with a conventional commit message.
Report — Summarize all created commits.

Error Handling

If a script fails:

Verify the <repo-root> argument points to a valid Git repository (git -C <repo-root> rev-parse --git-dir)
Check the ancestor ref exists (commit hash or branch name)
Ensure the scripts are executable (chmod +x scripts/*.sh)

Agent Skills: Git Workflows

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