Skill: Git Hygiene

Purpose

Ensures the repository's git history, branch state, and commit messages are clean, meaningful, and follow project conventions before pushing or merging.

When to Use

• Before pushing commits to master or opening a PR
• When git history has become messy (fixup commits, WIP messages, etc.)
• As a final step in any implementation workflow
• When the changelog-enforcer or release-readiness skills are applied

Process

1. Review Staged and Unstaged Changes

• Run git status to see what's changed
• Confirm no unintended files are staged (build artifacts, secrets, editor files)
• Check .gitignore is catching what it should

2. Review Commit History

• Run git log --oneline -20 to inspect recent commits
• Flag commits with vague messages: "fix", "wip", "test", "asdf", etc.
• Note commits that could be squashed without losing meaning

3. Validate Commit Messages

• Ensure messages follow the pattern: <type>: <short description> [#issue]
• Valid types: feat, fix, docs, chore, refactor, test, style
• Subject line should be ≤72 characters
• No trailing periods in subject line

4. Clean Up if Needed

• Squash fixup commits with git rebase -i if appropriate
• Amend the most recent commit message with git commit --amend if needed
• Do not rewrite history on shared branches unless explicitly authorized

5. Confirm Branch State

• Ensure the working branch is up to date with its upstream
• Resolve any merge conflicts before pushing
• Confirm you are on the intended branch

6. Push

• Push with git push origin <branch>
• Use --force-with-lease only if a rebase was performed, never --force

Output

• Clean git history with meaningful commit messages
• No unintended files committed
• Successful push to the correct branch

Notes

• Never commit secrets, credentials, or API keys
• Binary files and generated files should generally not be committed
• If in doubt about a commit, use git diff HEAD~1 to review what it contains