Branch

Create Development Branch Skill

Purpose

Create a development branch with standardized naming convention (dcppay-<JIRA-number>-<short-title>) after implementation plan is approved.

Usage

/branch

(Must be run after /plan)

What This Skill Does

1. Load Implementation Plan: Reads implementation-plan.md to understand the work
2. Extract JIRA Number: Gets JIRA number from workflow directory
3. Generate Branch Name: Creates branch name in format dcppay-<number>-<short-title>
4. Validate Branch: Checks if branch already exists
5. Create Branch: Creates new branch from main for the current project repo
6. Save Branch Details: Outputs to dev-branch.md

Implementation Plan Context

The implementation plan should be located in the most recent directory under workflow/jira-to-github/*/implementation-plan.md. You will need to find and read this file in Step 1.

Instructions

You are creating a development branch for a JIRA issue. Follow these steps:

Step 1: Validate Prerequisites and Load Context

First, find the most recent JIRA workflow directory and load the repo profile for branch naming:

ls -td workflow/jira-to-github/*/ | head -1

If no directory exists, display error:

❌ No JIRA issue found

Please run the following commands first:
1. /pull <JIRA-KEY>
2. /plan

Then try again.

If directory exists:

1. Read workflow/jira-to-github/<JIRA-NUMBER>/target-repo.md to get the profile path
2. Read the repo profile (e.g., context/repos/esperanto.md) to get the Branch Naming convention
3. Read the implementation plan from workflow/jira-to-github/<JIRA-NUMBER>/implementation-plan.md to understand the work
4. Use the branch naming format from the profile (default: dcppay-<JIRA-number>-<short-title> if no profile found)

Step 2: Extract JIRA Information

From the workflow directory path, extract:

• JIRA number (e.g., DRT-17270 → 17270)
• JIRA key (e.g., DRT-17270)
• JIRA title (e.g., Web - WHPP - Develop UI - New card type)

Step 3: Generate Short Title

Create a short, hyphenated title from the issue summary:

• Convert to lowercase
• Remove special characters
• Replace spaces with hyphens
• Limit to 2-3 meaningful words
• Max 20 characters

Examples:

• "Add eProtect error code handling" → "eprotect-error-code"
• "Fix wallet card deletion bug" → "fix-card-deletion"
• "Implement analytics tracking for checkout" → "analytics-checkout-tracking"

Step 4: Generate Branch Name

Create branch name in format:

dcppay-<JIRA-number>-<short-title>

Examples:

• DRT-17270 → dcppay-17270-eprotect-error-code
• DRT-17345 → dcppay-17345-fix-card-deletion
• DRT-17410 → dcppay-17410-analytics-checkout-tracking

Step 5: Validate Branch Doesn't Exist

Check if branch already exists locally or remotely:

# Check local branches
git branch --list "dcppay-<number>-*"

# Check remote branches
git fetch origin
git branch -r --list "origin/dcppay-<number>-*"

If branch exists:

• Display existing branch name
• Ask user if they want to:
  • A) Checkout existing branch
  • B) Create new branch with different name
  • C) Delete existing and create fresh

Step 6: Get Latest from Main

Ensure working from latest main:

# Determine if repo uses main
DEFAULT_BRANCH=main

# Fetch latest
git fetch origin

# Switch to default branch
git checkout $DEFAULT_BRANCH

# Pull latest changes
git pull origin $DEFAULT_BRANCH

Step 7: Create Development Branch

Create and checkout the new branch:

git checkout -b dcppay-<JIRA-number>-<short-title>

Step 8: Save Branch Details

Create a branch details document:

# Development Branch: dcppay-<JIRA-number>-<short-title>

## Branch Information

- **Branch Name**: `dcppay-<JIRA-number>-<short-title>`
- **JIRA Issue**: <JIRA-KEY>
- **Created From**: <DEFAULT_BRANCH>
- **Created At**: <timestamp>

Save to:

workflow/jira-to-github/<JIRA-NUMBER>/dev-branch.md

Step 9: Display Summary

Display a concise summary to the user:

✓ Development Branch Created

Branch: dcppay-<JIRA-number>-<short-title>
JIRA: <JIRA-KEY>
Base: <DEFAULT_BRANCH>

Branch details saved to: workflow/jira-to-github/<JIRA-NUMBER>/dev-branch.md

Next step: Run /code to implement the changes

Error Handling

If errors occur:

1. Log error to workflow/jira-to-github/<JIRA-NUMBER>/errors.log
2. Display user-friendly message
3. Suggest recovery action

Common errors:

• No implementation plan found: Run /plan first
• Branch already exists:
  • Display: Branch dcppay-<number>-<title> already exists
  • Options:
    • Checkout existing: git checkout dcppay-<number>-<title>
    • Rename: Suggest alternative name
    • Delete and recreate: git branch -D dcppay-<number>-<title> (confirm first)
• Not on a git repository: Ensure you're in the correct project directory
• Uncommitted changes: Stash or commit changes before creating branch
• Network errors: Check connectivity to git remote

Examples

Example 1: Standard feature branch

/branch
# → dcppay-17270-eprotect-error-code

Example 2: Bug fix branch

/branch
# → dcppay-17345-fix-card-deletion

Example 3: Branch already exists

/branch
# → Branch already exists. Checkout existing? (Y/n)