oaustegard/versioning-skills

Versioning Skills

Use git to track changes during skill development. Initialize repos after creating skills, commit after each logical change, and use git commands to compare versions or revert mistakes.

When Creating a New Skill

After running init_skill.sh, immediately initialize git:

cd /home/claude/skill-name
git init
git add .
git commit -m "Initial commit: skill structure"

When Editing Skills

After each logical change (adding a section, fixing an example, refactoring), commit:

cd /home/claude/skill-name
git add .
git commit -m "Add: validation workflow pattern"

Commit message patterns:

• "Add [feature]: description" - New functionality
• "Fix [issue]: description" - Bug fixes
• "Update [section]: description" - Content changes
• "Refactor [component]: description" - Structural changes
• "Remove [feature]: description" - Deletions

When User Asks "What Changed?"

CRITICAL: Never display diffs inline - redirect to files and provide links.

ALSO CRITICAL: Only create diffs/changelogs when user explicitly asks "what changed?" or "show differences"

Don't preemptively create:

• CHANGELOG.md files
• Change documentation
• "Here's what I modified" summaries

Why: The updated code/docs ARE the documentation. Creating separate changelogs wastes tokens and duplicates information.

When user asks, show commit history:

cd /home/claude/skill-name
git log --oneline

Save diff to file (prevents token waste):

cd /home/claude/skill-name
git diff <commit-hash-1> <commit-hash-2> > /mnt/user-data/outputs/changes.diff

Then provide: [View changes](computer:///mnt/user-data/outputs/changes.diff)

For multiple diffs:

# Changed files list
git diff --name-only <commit-1> <commit-2> > /mnt/user-data/outputs/changed-files.txt

# Full diff
git diff <commit-1> <commit-2> > /mnt/user-data/outputs/full-diff.diff

# Summary stats
git diff --stat <commit-1> <commit-2> > /mnt/user-data/outputs/diff-stats.txt

Wrong: git diff <commit-1> <commit-2> (displays in stdout, wastes tokens) Right: git diff <commit-1> <commit-2> > /mnt/user-data/outputs/diff.txt (file + link)

Reverting Commits or Discarding Work

Undo last commit (keep uncommitted changes):

cd /home/claude/skill-name
git reset --soft HEAD~1

Undo last commit (discard all changes):

git reset --hard HEAD~1

Revert specific commit (creates new commit, preserves history):

git revert <commit-hash>

Discard uncommitted edits (restore to last commit):

git restore .

Prefer git revert over git reset --hard to preserve history.

When Testing Experimental Changes

Create a branch before risky modifications:

cd /home/claude/skill-name

# Create and switch to experiment branch
git checkout -b experiment-new-approach

# Make changes, test
# ... edit files ...
git add .
git commit -m "Experiment: alternative validation"

# If successful, merge back
git checkout main
git merge experiment-new-approach
git branch -d experiment-new-approach

# If failed, abandon and return to main
git checkout main
git branch -D experiment-new-approach

When Comparing Two Skill Versions

If user uploads or provides two versions:

cd /home/claude
mkdir -p compare

# Extract both versions
unzip /mnt/user-data/uploads/skill-v1.zip -d compare/v1
unzip /mnt/user-data/uploads/skill-v2.zip -d compare/v2

# Initialize git in each
cd compare/v1 && git init && git add . && git commit -m "Version 1"
cd ../v2 && git init && git add . && git commit -m "Version 2"

# Compare
cd ../v1
git diff --no-index . ../v2

Or use diff directly without git:

diff -ur compare/v1 compare/v2

When Packaging Skills

Before zipping, verify clean state:

cd /home/claude/skill-name
git status  # Should show no uncommitted changes
git log --oneline  # Review history

# Package (excludes .git automatically with -x)
cd /home/claude
zip -r /mnt/user-data/outputs/skill-name.zip skill-name/ -x "*.git*"

Workflow Integration

During skill creation:

1. Run init_skill.sh
2. Immediately: git init && git add . && git commit -m "Initial structure"
3. Edit SKILL.md
4. Commit: git add . && git commit -m "Add: core documentation"
5. Continue editing → commit after each major change

During skill editing:

1. Make change with str_replace or bash
2. Test if needed
3. Commit: git add <file> && git commit -m "Fix: corrected example"
4. Repeat

Before delivery:

1. Review history: git log --oneline
2. Verify clean: git status
3. Package with -x to exclude .git

Configuration

Set git identity once per session to avoid prompts:

git config --global user.name "Claude"
git config --global user.email "[email protected]"

Common Issues

"not a git repository" → Run git init first

"nothing to commit"
→ No changes made, or forgot git add

Commit message editor opens → Always use -m "message" with commit

Best Practices

Commit after each logical change, not every keystroke. Use descriptive commit messages in present tense. Create branches for experimental changes. Use git log --oneline frequently to track progress.

Limitations

Git repos in /home/claude reset between sessions. Version control only persists within a single development session. Network restrictions prevent push/pull to remote repos.