acartine/rebase

Rebase Skill

Overview

Automates rebasing the current work branch on the latest main, including intelligent conflict resolution and safe force pushing.

Usage

# Store current branch
WORK_BRANCH=$(git branch --show-current)

# Validate not on main
if [ "$WORK_BRANCH" == "main" ]; then
  echo "Error: Cannot rebase main onto itself"
  exit 1
fi

# Update main
git checkout main
git pull

# Return to work branch and rebase
git checkout $WORK_BRANCH
git rebase main

# Handle conflicts if they occur (see conflict resolution strategy below)

# Force push with lease (safer than --force)
git push --force-with-lease origin $WORK_BRANCH

Conflict Resolution Strategy

When conflicts occur during rebase:

1. List conflicted files: git diff --name-only --diff-filter=U

2. For each conflicted file, analyze and resolve:

   • Non-overlapping changes: Keep both (manual merge)
   • Identical changes: Accept either version
   • Overlapping changes: Default to accepting incoming (main) changes
     • Rationale: Main represents the agreed-upon state
     • Always warn when using this strategy

3. Resolution commands:

   # Accept incoming (main) changes
   git checkout --theirs <file>
   
   # Accept current (work branch) changes
   git checkout --ours <file>
   
   # Manual merge (for complex cases)
   # Edit file directly to resolve conflicts
   
   # Stage resolved file
   git add <file>
   

4. Continue rebase: git rebase --continue

5. Repeat until complete

Transparency Reporting

Always report:

• List of files with conflicts
• Resolution strategy used for each file
• Any files requiring manual review
• Final rebase summary: git log --oneline main..HEAD

Safety

• Validates: Never rebase main onto itself
• Uses --force-with-lease: Prevents overwriting unexpected remote changes
• Abort on failure: If unable to auto-resolve, run git rebase --abort
• Transparency: Always report resolution decisions made

Abort Strategy

If automatic conflict resolution fails:

git rebase --abort

Then report to user with suggestion to resolve manually via git rebase -i main

Common Use Cases

• Rebase feature branch before creating PR (clean history)
• Incorporate latest main changes into work branch
• Resolve conflicts with main after updates
• Clean up commit history before merge

Safety Notes

• Changes branch history (commits will have new SHAs)
• Requires force push (uses safer --force-with-lease)
• May conflict with ongoing work if others are on the same branch
• Review changes after complex conflict resolution