oduffy-delphi/finishing-a-development-branch

Finishing a Development Branch

Overview

Guide completion of development work by presenting clear options and handling chosen workflow.

Core principle: Verify tests → Present options → Execute choice → Clean up.

Announce at start: "I'm using the coordinator:finishing-a-development-branch skill to complete this work."

The Process

Step 1: Acceptance-Oracle Early Feedback + Test Verification

Step 1a: Acceptance-Oracle Early Feedback (non-authoritative)

<!-- spec-backlink: archive/specs/2026-05-24-acceptance-oracle-with-teeth.md §2.3 — finishing-a-development-branch early non-authoritative gate -->

Run the acceptance oracle as early advisory feedback before presenting options.

Plan-path threading: This skill is invoked standalone (by the PM, or by the executor-dispatch workflow) — it is not chained from coordinator:execute-plan. When the invoker provides a plan path, use it directly. When no plan path is available, emit a skip-with-offer and continue.

• Plan path known (passed from execute-plan or provided by invoker):

  bash check-acceptance-oracle.sh <plan-path>
  

  • Exit 0: Log "Acceptance oracle: all gate-bound tests pass." Continue to Step 1b.
  • Non-zero exit: Log the verdict (the script names which rows are red). This is advisory — do NOT block here. Continue to Step 1b and note: "You have red acceptance tests — consider iterating before /workstream-complete Step 3.8, where the authoritative gate will hard-block on these."
  • Script not found: Skip silently and continue to Step 1b.

• No plan path available (standalone invocation): Emit skip-with-offer: "Acceptance oracle can be validated with bash check-acceptance-oracle.sh <plan-path> — provide a plan path if this branch has one." Continue to Step 1b. Never scan the working directory for plan files (concurrent EMs would pick the wrong one).

Step 1b: Verify Tests

Before presenting options, verify tests pass:

# Run project's test suite
npm test / cargo test / pytest / go test ./...

If tests fail:

Tests failing (<N> failures). Must fix before completing:

[Show failures]

Cannot proceed with merge/PR until tests pass.

Stop. Don't proceed to Step 2.

If tests pass: Continue to Step 2.

Step 2: Determine Base Branch

# Try common base branches
git merge-base HEAD main 2>/dev/null || git merge-base HEAD master 2>/dev/null

Or ask: "This branch split from main - is that correct?"

Step 3: Present Options

Present exactly these 3 options:

Implementation complete. What would you like to do?

1. Merge to main via PR (recommended)
2. Create a Pull Request (manual merge later)
3. Keep the branch as-is (I'll handle it later)

Which option?

Don't add explanation - keep options concise.

Why no "discard" option: when this skill fires, work is reviewed, tested, and committed. Offering discard as a peer of "merge" treats the choice as ambivalent when it isn't. If the PM genuinely wants to throw the work away, they'll say so explicitly — and that path goes through deliberate destructive-action confirmation, not a numbered menu.

Step 4: Execute Choice

Option 1: Merge to main via PR (Recommended)

Invoke the merging-to-main skill. This creates a PR, waits for CI checks, and merges on success. Branch is deleted after merge.

If on a worktree: worktree is removed after merge (Step 5).

Option 2: Create a Pull Request (manual merge later)

Push the feature branch and create a PR, but do NOT merge. Use this when:

• You want the PM to review the PR before merging
• CI needs to pass but you're not ready to merge yet
• You want to come back to this later

git push -u origin <feature-branch>

gh pr create --title "<title>" --body "$(cat <<'EOF'
## Summary
<2-3 bullets of what changed>

## Test Plan
- [ ] <verification steps>
EOF
)"

If on a worktree: keep the worktree active.

Option 3: Keep the branch as-is

Don't merge, don't create PR. Branch stays. Use this when:

• Work is in progress and not ready for review
• You plan to continue in another session

Report: "Keeping branch <name>. Worktree preserved at <path>."

If on a worktree: keep the worktree active.

Step 5: Cleanup Worktree

<!-- Review: the Staff Engineer — Option 2 keeps worktree active; contradicted the quick reference table -->

For Option 1:

Check if in worktree:

git worktree list | grep $(git branch --show-current)

If yes:

git worktree remove <worktree-path>

For Options 2 and 3: Keep worktree.

Quick Reference

| Option | PR | Merge | Keep Worktree | Cleanup Branch | |--------|-----|-------|---------------|----------------| | 1. Merge via PR | ✓ | ✓ (CI-gated) | - | ✓ | | 2. PR only | ✓ | - | ✓ | - | | 3. Keep as-is | - | - | ✓ | - |

Common Mistakes

Skipping test verification

• Problem: Merge broken code, create failing PR
• Fix: Always verify tests before offering options

Open-ended questions

• Problem: "What should I do next?" → ambiguous
• Fix: Present exactly 3 structured options

Automatic worktree cleanup

• Problem: Remove worktree when might need it (Option 2, 3)
• Fix: Only cleanup for Option 1

Offering discard as a numbered option

• Problem: When work is reviewed, tested, and committed, presenting "discard" as a peer of "merge" treats the choice as ambivalent and invites accidental selection.
• Fix: Don't include discard in the menu. If the PM wants to throw work away, they'll say so explicitly — and that path is deliberate destructive-action confirmation, not a numbered choice.

Red Flags

Never:

• Proceed with failing tests
• Merge without verifying tests on result
• Offer discard as a numbered menu option
• Force-push without explicit request

Always:

• Verify tests before offering options
• Present exactly 3 options
• Clean up worktree for Option 1 only

Integration

Called by:

• Executor-dispatch workflow (docs/wiki/delegate-execution.md) — After all tasks complete
• The PM directly — when a branch is ready for disposition (merge / PR / keep)

Not called by:

• /execute-plan — execute-plan finalizes and offers /workstream-complete; it deliberately does not chain into branch disposition, since that reaches the keyword-gated /merge-to-main. Branch disposition is a separate, PM-invoked decision.

Pairs with:

• No worktrees — worktrees are forbidden. Use the active workstream branch for WIP parking.