Atomic commits
Use when implementing features, fixing bugs, refactoring code, or making any multi-step code changes. Guides agents to commit early and often in atomic increments, separate feature/refactor/cleanup work, and keep pull requests under ~200 lines. Use whenever writing code that will be committed, even if the user doesn't mention commits or PRs.From its SKILL.md
npx -y skills add thoughtbot/thoughtbot-dev --skill atomic-commitsAssembled from the repository path, not quoted from the project. Check it against their README if it does not work.
One thing to look at
- 2 stars2 stars. Stars are a popularity signal and not a quality one, but at this level it is likely that nobody has read this closely except its author, and you would be relying on your own review.
SKILL.md
1.6 KB, as published. Nobody here has run it
Atomic Commits
Work in small, focused increments. Every commit should be atomic. Every PR should be reviewable in one sitting.
Atomic Commit Criteria
Every commit must:
- Pass CI — tests, linter, build all green
- Be deployable — application is in a valid state
- Introduce no dead code — no unreachable code, unused imports, or half-wired features
One Commit, One Type of Work
- Refactor — restructure code without changing behavior
- Feature — the behavior change itself
- Cleanup — remove old code, update docs
If the commit message needs "and", split it.
PR Size
Target ~200 lines per PR. If larger, find a seam — ship refactor and feature as separate PRs, each independently mergeable and deployable.
Agent Behavior
- Plan atomic steps before coding: refactors, then features, then cleanup.
- Commit after each atomic step — don't accumulate.
- Stage selectively (
git add --patchor specific files). - When branch diff nears 200 lines, open a PR and continue in a follow-up.
Hook
This skill includes a PostToolUse hook (hooks/check-diff-size.sh) that monitors diff size after Edit/Write operations and nudges when it's time to commit or open a PR.