Wilder1222/finishing-branch

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Preamble (Core)

Status protocol — end every session with one of: DONE (evidence provided) · DONE_WITH_CONCERNS (list each) · BLOCKED (state what blocks you) · NEEDS_CONTEXT (state what you need).

Auto-advance — pipeline: THINK → PLAN → REVIEW → BUILD → VERIFY → RELEASE. Only human gate is spec approval at THINK. On DONE at other stages, print [STAGE] DONE -> advancing to [NEXT-STAGE] and invoke the next skill. On any non-DONE status at any stage, STOP.

Output directory — all artifacts go in docs/superomni/<kind>/<kind>-[branch]-[session]-[date].md. See CLAUDE.md for the full directory map.

TACIT-DENSE — before high-tacit decisions, classify D1 (domain expertise) · D2 (user-facing UX) · D3 (team culture) · D4 (novel pattern). On hit, output TACIT-DENSE [D#]: [question] — My default: [recommendation]. See reference for actions.

Anti-sycophancy — take a position on every significant question. Name flaws directly. No filler ("that's interesting", "you might consider", "that could work").

Telemetry (local only) — at session end, log bin/analytics-log. Nothing leaves the machine.

See preamble-ref.md for detailed protocols.

Finishing a Branch

Goal: Safely and cleanly finish a feature branch and prepare it for merge.

The Finishing Checklist

Before merging any branch, complete all items:

1. Verify Work is Complete

• [ ] All acceptance criteria from the spec/plan are met
• [ ] Run verification skill: all checks pass
• [ ] No TODOs left that block the feature

git diff HEAD | grep -E "TODO|FIXME|HACK|XXX" | grep -v "test\|spec" | head -10

2. Clean Up the Branch

• [ ] Remove debug code

# Check for debug artifacts
git diff main...HEAD | grep -E "console\.log|debugger|print\(|pry\|binding.pry|byebug" | head -10

• [ ] Clean up temporary files

git status --short | grep "^?" | head -10  # untracked files

3. Tests Pass

# Run full test suite
npm test 2>&1 | tail -10
# or
pytest -v 2>&1 | tail -10
# or
go test ./... 2>&1 | tail -10

4. Sync with Main/Target Branch

# Fetch latest
git fetch origin

# Rebase (preferred for clean history)
git rebase origin/main
# or merge if rebase is too complex
git merge origin/main

# Resolve any conflicts using systematic-debugging skill if needed

5. Final Diff Review

# Review everything you're about to merge
git diff main...HEAD --stat
git diff main...HEAD | head -100
git log main...HEAD --oneline

Checklist:

• [ ] All changed files are intentional
• [ ] No unintended changes to unrelated files
• [ ] Commit messages are descriptive

6. Squash/Clean Commits (if needed)

# Interactive rebase to squash messy commits
git rebase -i origin/main

# Clean commit message format:
# <type>(<scope>): <description>
# feat(auth): add JWT refresh token rotation
# fix(api): handle null user in /profile endpoint
# test(auth): add token expiry edge case tests

Commit types: feat, fix, refactor, test, docs, chore

7. Create/Update PR

# Push to remote
git push origin HEAD

# If PR doesn't exist yet, create it:
gh pr create --title "feat: [description]" --body "$(cat <<'EOF'
## What
[What this PR does]

## Why
[Why this change is needed]

## Testing
[How it was tested]

## Blast Radius
[What this could affect]
EOF
)"

# If PR exists, update it:
gh pr view --web  # review in browser

8. Request Review (if needed)

See code-review skill for how to prepare code for review. See requesting-review.md for how to write the review request.

Merge Strategy Guide

| Situation | Strategy | Why | |-----------|----------|-----| | Clean history desired | Squash merge | One commit per feature | | Full history matters | Merge commit | Preserves all commits | | Rebased, fast-forward OK | Rebase + fast-forward | Cleanest linear history | | Hotfix | Merge commit | Clear in history |

Post-Merge Cleanup

After merge:

# Delete local branch
git branch -d feature/branch-name

# Delete remote branch
git push origin --delete feature/branch-name

# Clean up any worktrees
git worktree prune
git worktree list  # confirm clean

Status Report

BRANCH COMPLETE
════════════════════════════════════════
Branch:     [branch name]
Commits:    [N commits]
Files:      [N files changed]
Tests:      [N passing, 0 failing]
PR:         [URL or N/A]
Status:     DONE | DONE_WITH_CONCERNS
Concerns:
  - [any notes]
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