Branch Discipline Skill

Branch Discipline

Overview

Never work on main. Create feature branches for all work.

Core principle: The main branch is sacred. All work happens in feature branches.

This is a HARD GATE. Do not proceed with code changes if on main.

The Gate

┌─────────────────────────────────────┐
│         CODE CHANGE NEEDED          │
└─────────────────┬───────────────────┘
                  │
                  ▼
        ┌─────────────────┐
        │ Current branch? │
        └────────┬────────┘
                 │
       ┌─────────┴─────────┐
       │                   │
     main              feature/*
       │                   │
       ▼                   ▼
  ┌─────────┐         ┌─────────┐
  │  STOP   │         │ PROCEED │
  │ Create  │         │  with   │
  │ branch  │         │  work   │
  └─────────┘         └─────────┘

Check Current Branch

# Show current branch
git branch --show-current

# If output is "main" or "master" → STOP
# If output is feature/* or fix/* → PROCEED

Branch Naming Convention

Format

[type]/issue-[number]-[short-description]

Types

| Type | Use For | |------|---------| | feature | New functionality | | fix | Bug fixes | | chore | Maintenance, dependencies | | docs | Documentation only | | refactor | Code restructuring | | test | Test additions/fixes |

Examples

feature/issue-123-user-authentication
fix/issue-456-login-redirect-loop
chore/issue-789-update-dependencies
docs/issue-101-api-documentation
refactor/issue-202-extract-validation
test/issue-303-add-integration-tests

Creating a Feature Branch

From Main (Default)

# Ensure main is up to date
git checkout main
git pull origin main

# Create and checkout new branch
git checkout -b feature/issue-[NUMBER]-[description]

# Push branch to remote (establishes tracking)
git push -u origin feature/issue-[NUMBER]-[description]

From Existing Feature Branch

When building on in-progress work:

# Checkout the base branch
git checkout feature/issue-100-base-feature

# Ensure it's up to date
git pull origin feature/issue-100-base-feature

# Create new branch from it
git checkout -b feature/issue-101-dependent-feature

Document the dependency in the issue.

Branch Lifecycle

Create → Work → Push → PR → Merge → Delete

After Merge

# Switch to main
git checkout main

# Pull the merge
git pull origin main

# Delete local branch
git branch -d feature/issue-123-completed-feature

# Delete remote branch (usually done via PR UI)
git push origin --delete feature/issue-123-completed-feature

Handling Stale Branches

If main has moved ahead:

# Option 1: Rebase (preferred for clean history)
git checkout feature/issue-123-my-feature
git fetch origin
git rebase origin/main

# Option 2: Merge (if conflicts are complex)
git checkout feature/issue-123-my-feature
git fetch origin
git merge origin/main

Protected Branches

Main should be protected. Never:

Push directly to main
Force push to main
Delete main

If you accidentally commit to main:

# If not yet pushed - move commits to new branch
git branch feature/issue-123-accidental-main
git reset --hard origin/main

# If already pushed - DO NOT force push
# Instead, revert and recreate in proper branch

Multiple Issues, Same Branch?

Generally NO. Each issue gets its own branch.

Exception: Tightly coupled sub-issues from issue-decomposition MAY share a branch if:

They are sequential dependencies
They will be merged together
They are part of the same PR

Document this in the issues if doing so.

Verification

Before making any code change:

# Check current branch
BRANCH=$(git branch --show-current)

# Verify not on main
if [ "$BRANCH" = "main" ] || [ "$BRANCH" = "master" ]; then
    echo "ERROR: On protected branch. Create feature branch first."
    exit 1
fi

# Verify branch follows naming convention
if ! echo "$BRANCH" | grep -qE '^(feature|fix|chore|docs|refactor|test)/issue-[0-9]+-'; then
    echo "WARNING: Branch name doesn't follow convention"
fi

Common Mistakes

| Mistake | Prevention | |---------|------------| | Committing to main | Check branch before every commit | | Pushing to main | Branch protection rules | | Wrong base branch | Verify before creating branch | | Outdated branch | Rebase/merge before PR | | Branch name typos | Use consistent naming |

Checklist

Before writing any code:

[ ] Current branch is NOT main
[ ] Branch name follows convention
[ ] Branch is from correct base
[ ] Branch is pushed to remote
[ ] Issue number is in branch name

Integration

This skill is called by:

issue-driven-development - Step 6

This skill enables:

Clean separation of work
Easy PR creation
Safe experimentation

Agent Skills: Branch Discipline

Skill Files