git-branchless

Contract

Field	Bound contract
Trigger	Multi-commit work, stack edits, rebases, fixups, stacked-PR publishing, or mention of branchless, smartlog, git move, or git undo.
Authority	Human-gated: previews the target and consequence before publishing, any remote bulk mutation, or any irreversible history change; otherwise reversible local: writes only local git-branchless commits, moves, and restacks; rollback is version control. Never rebase -i, reset --hard, or force flags.
Side effect	Local git-branchless commits, moves, and restacks; publish paths submit or push remote stack state. Silently inert when branchless is absent.
Done	Branchless idioms applied per the decision rubric with a publish gate, or an explicit not-initialized inert line.

Not for

• Plain-git workflows in repos without branchless; the skill stays inert and yields to plain git.
• Interactive rebase (rebase -i), reset --hard, or force flags; never use these.
• Suggesting git branchless init unless the user explicitly asks how to enable.

Inputs

• A git repository (required).
• branchless initialization state (detected by the pre-flight gate, not supplied).
• The target commits or stack tip (required for edits and restacks).
• The publish target (required only for publish; main versus feature is decided by the publish gate).

Procedure

1. Run the pre-flight gate to confirm branchless is initialized for the current repository, resolving the git-common-dir so linked worktrees are handled:

   test -d "$(git rev-parse --git-common-dir)/branchless" && git config --get branchless.core.mainBranch
   

   • Both checks succeed: skill is active. Acknowledge with one line: git-branchless active: main=<value>.
   • Either check fails: skill is silently inert. Emit one line: git-branchless not initialized; skill inactive. Yield to plain git. Do not suggest git branchless init unless the user explicitly asks how to enable. Stop.

   Done when: branchless initialization is confirmed or the inert line is emitted.

2. Classify the requested work into one operation class and apply its Always rule. Plain-git commands are fine when they fall outside the class.

   Class	Always	Never
   Stack edits (reorder, fixup, squash, split)	git move, git move -F, git reword, git split.	git rebase -i to drive stack edits.
   Base updates (rebase a stack onto fresh main)	git sync --pull (or git move -b 'stack()' -d origin/main). Read the skip summary.	git pull --rebase against a stack.
   Undoing committed history	git undo -i.	git reset --hard <SHA> against any commit already made.
   Discarding local work in progress	git hide -r <tip> (recoverable).	git branch -D or git reset --hard purely to wipe.
   Branch creation for ephemeral work	Detached HEAD until publish; commit immediately, branch later.	git checkout -b feature/X before the first commit exists.
   Publishing (feature stacks)	Name the tip, then git submit -c @ (first publish) or git submit @ (update). Stock git push -u origin <feature> only if submit is denied.	git submit targeting main/master/release/*. Writing --force / --force-with-lease in recipes.
   Publishing (gated main)	Only when the user requested main or HEAD is already on local main/master: git sync --pull, prove @ descends from origin/main, then stock git push -u origin main. Detached: FF-only attach to local main first.	git submit for main. Blind git switch -C main / git branch -f main. Any force flag.

   Legitimate plain-git edge cases that are not blocked: git reset --soft HEAD~ against staging when nothing is committed yet; git rebase --onto for a one-off non-interactive upstream sync in a repo where branchless is not initialized (the skill is inert there anyway); git checkout -b when the work is genuinely about to be pushed.

   Done when: the work is classified into one operation class and the Always rule is applied.

3. Use the decision rubric to pick the concrete command sequence for the goal:

   Goal	Command sequence
   Insert a fixup mid-stack	git commit --fixup <target> then git move -s HEAD -d <target> --fixup
   Reorder commits	git move -s <src> -d <dest>
   Squash two commits	git move -s <child> -d <parent> --fixup
   Split a commit	git split <commit>
   Rebase stack onto main	git sync --pull
   Find first failing commit	git test run --search binary --exec '<cmd>' 'stack()'
   Recover lost work	git undo -i
   Discard a local experiment	git hide -r <tip>
   Publish feature stack	git branch <name> @ then git submit -c @ (update: git submit @)
   Land on main (gated)	git sync --pull + ancestor of origin/main + stock git push -u origin main
   Post-merge hygiene	git sync --pull then git hide -r <merged-tips>; optional git gc

   Done when: the concrete command sequence is selected and executed.

4. Before any publish, run the publish gate:

   • Path M (main): only when the user requested main or HEAD is already on local main/master. Run git sync --pull, prove @ descends from origin/main, then stock git push -u origin main. Never git submit for main. Never any force flag. If detached, FF-only attach to local main first.
   • Path F (feature): git branch <name> @ then git submit -c @ (first publish) or git submit @ (update). Fall back to stock git push -u origin <feature> only if submit is denied. Never target main/master/release/*. Never write --force / --force-with-lease. Done when: the publish gate is run and the correct path is taken.

5. After git amend, git reword, git move, or git split, descendants are auto-restacked in-memory. Run git restack manually only when the smartlog warns about abandoned subtrees (✕ ancestors). Done when: restack is handled and no abandoned subtrees remain.

6. After a land/merge, run git sync --pull then git hide -r <merged-tips>; optionally git gc. Done when: post-merge hygiene is complete.

7. Read the skip summary line after every git sync and git move. Speculative-merge skips are silent unless the line is read. Done when: the skip summary is read after every sync and move.

Failure and recovery

• Not initialized: emit the inert line, make no mutation, yield to plain git. Do not suggest git branchless init unless asked.
• Version-gated flag rejected: fall back to the closest documented alternative and tell the user which feature was unavailable. Do not invent an unverified flag.
• git submit --forge github unsuitable for general use (upstream arxanas/git-branchless#1184): stack reordering can lose PR ancestry. Prefer the default forge branch with git submit -c @ / git submit @ for feature stacks; never submit main. Stock git push -u is the gated-main path and the submit-denied fallback.
• Event log is per-repository and per-clone: git undo cannot reach state from a different clone or machine. State this when recovery is requested across clones.
• Speculative-merge skips during git sync and git move: silent unless the summary line is read. If a skip is missed, re-run and read the summary before assuming success.
• Never swallow an error or pretend the done predicate holds. If a command fails, report the exact failure and stop rather than widening scope.

Output

Applied branchless command sequence and resulting smartlog state; or a publish result (feature stack submitted, or main pushed after the ancestry check); or the explicit inert line git-branchless not initialized; skill inactive.