Branch discipline

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