olliecrow/git-push-safe

git-push-safe

Multi-agent collaboration

• Default to using subagents when they are likely to improve speed, quality, confidence, or keep the main context clean.
• Use subagents to widen coverage, dig deeper on one thread, get a fresh second opinion, or keep the main thread clean while side work runs.
• Split work into clear packets with owners, inputs, acceptance checks, and a synthesis step when parallelizing.
• Keep the main agent focused on synthesis, unblockers, and the next critical-path step; let subagents handle bounded side work that can run in parallel.
• Use single-agent execution only when scope is small or coordination overhead outweighs gains.

Proactive autonomy and knowledge compounding

• Be proactive: immediately take the next highest-value in-scope action when it is clear.
• Default to autonomous execution: do not pause for confirmation between normal in-scope steps.
• Request user input only when absolutely necessary: ambiguous requirements, material risk tradeoffs, missing required data/access, or destructive/irreversible actions outside policy.
• If blocked by command/tool/env failures, attempt high-confidence fallbacks autonomously before escalating (for example rg -> find/grep, python -> python3, alternate repo-native scripts).
• When the workflow uses plan/, ensure required plan directories exist before reading/writing them (create when edits are allowed; otherwise use an in-memory fallback and call it out).
• Treat transient external failures (network/SSH/remote APIs/timeouts) as retryable by default: run bounded retries with backoff and capture failure evidence before concluding blocked.
• On repeated invocations for the same objective, resume from prior findings/artifacts and prioritize net-new progress over rerunning identical work unless verification requires reruns.
• Drive work to complete outcomes with verification, not partial handoffs.
• Treat iterative execution as the default for non-trivial work; run adaptive loop passes. Example loops (adapt as needed, not rigid): issue-resolution investigate -> plan -> fix -> verify -> battletest -> organise-docs -> git-commit -> re-review; cleanup scan -> prioritize -> clean -> verify -> re-scan; docs audit -> update -> verify -> re-audit.
• Keep looping until actual completion criteria are met: no actionable in-scope items remain, verification is green, and confidence is high.
• Run organise-docs frequently during execution to capture durable decisions and learnings, not only at the end.
• Create small checkpoint commits frequently with git-commit when changes are commit-eligible, checks are green, and repo policy permits commits.
• Never squash commits; always use merge commits when integrating branches.
• Prefer simplification over added complexity: aggressively remove bloat, redundancy, and over-engineering while preserving correctness.
• When you touch code, leave the touched area in a better state than you found it: clearer, simpler, tidier, and at least as performant unless the task requires an explicit trade-off.
• Before finishing any non-trivial task or pass, run at least one explicit consolidation pass across the touched code, docs, notes, tests, and configs.
• Use that pass to merge toward one clear source of truth, remove stale or duplicate material, and resolve contradictions before you declare the work complete.
• Do this by default as part of normal completion, even when the user did not explicitly ask for cleanup, consolidation, or contradiction resolution.
• Use simple, plain English in user messages, docs, notes, reports, code comments, and other explanatory writing. Avoid jargon, fancy wording, and complex phrasing. When a technical term is needed for correctness, explain it in simple words the first time. Default to short user-facing responses. Think about what the user most wants to know, and lead with that. Do not dump every detail by default. Always include important changes, blockers, verification gaps, and any important assumptions, nuances, principles, or decisions that shaped the work. Add more detail only when the user asks for it or when uncertainty or risk makes it necessary.
• Compound knowledge continuously: keep docs/ accurate and up to date, and promote durable learnings and decisions from work into docs.

Long-task checkpoint cadence

• For any non-trivial task (including long efforts), run recurring checkpoint cycles instead of waiting for a single end-of-task wrap-up.
• At each meaningful milestone with commit-eligible changes, and at least once per major phase, invoke git-commit to create a small logical checkpoint commit once relevant checks are green and repo policy permits commits.
• At the same cadence, invoke organise-docs whenever durable learnings/decisions appear, and prune stale plan/ scratch artifacts.
• If either checkpoint is blocked (for example failing checks or low-confidence documentation), resolve or record the blocker immediately and retry before expanding scope.

Terminal state contract (must follow)

The skill is complete only when all of the following are true:

• Objective completion: the user-requested outcome is achieved, or explicitly marked blocked with concrete blocker evidence.
• Workflow completion: every required workflow step is resolved as done, blocked, or not-applicable, with brief evidence or rationale.
• Step-level terminal completion: each numbered subtask must have explicit completion evidence (artifact, command output, or written rationale) before advancing.
• Verification completion: required checks/validations for this skill are executed, or any unavailable checks are explicitly called out with impact.
• Findings completion (where applicable): report only evidence-backed findings; if no high-confidence critical findings are present, explicitly state that.
• Loop completion: no actionable in-scope next step remains under the current objective.

Stop only after this terminal contract is satisfied; otherwise continue iterating.

Terminal state examples (adapt to skill)

• done: requested outcome is delivered and required checks are completed (for example expected artifact/report produced and required validation command(s) passed).
• blocked: progress cannot continue after bounded retries because of a concrete dependency or access issue; blocker evidence and exact unblock action are reported.
• not-applicable: an optional step is explicitly skipped with reason (for example no remote configured, so push step is marked not-applicable).

Overview

Push the current branch safely only when repository policy allows push and the repository has a remote configured. Before push, require successful pre-commit checks, relevant tests, and CI checks. If the repository is local-only by policy, do not push and report that push was intentionally skipped.

Trigger phrases

Use this skill when the user asks for intents like:

• push now
• safe push
• checkpoint and push
• push current branch if remote exists

Prompt templates

Use these copy-paste templates:

• [$git-push-safe] push current branch safely if remote exists; skip and report if local-only.
• [$git-push-safe] run pre-commit/tests/CI gates, then push current branch.
• [$git-push-safe] safe push after checkpoint, no force pushes, report branch/upstream status.

Behavioral guardrails (must follow)

• Proceed without permission for standard in-scope steps (read/scan/summarize/plan/tests/edits/analysis). Ask clarifying questions only when requirements are ambiguous, missing inputs, or a risky decision cannot be inferred. Require explicit approval only for destructive/irreversible actions, executing untrusted code or installers, remote-state changes (push/deploy/publish), or changes outside the repo environment.
• Run a preflight before substantial work: confirm repo root, verify git with command -v, and inspect remotes.
• Never force push.
• Require verification gates before push: pre-commit checks, relevant tests, and CI checks must pass.
• If the working tree has uncommitted changes, do not push partial state; run git-commit first (or provide exact commands if commits are disallowed).
• Do not push a branch that still carries known duplicate or contradictory sources of truth in the touched area; route one consolidation pass first.
• Prefer quoted paths and explicit path checks when running shell commands to reduce avoidable glob/path failures.
• If an environment variable is required, check whether it is already set before asking for it or stating it is missing.
• If there is nothing left to do, say so explicitly and stop.

Git safety and permissions

• Follow the current repo's git policy and the session's environment restrictions; if git writes are disallowed, do not perform them and provide commands instead.
• Never rewrite git history or force push. Do not use git rebase, git commit --amend, git reset --hard, git reset --soft, git reset --mixed, git push --force, git push --force-with-lease, or git filter-branch, or git clean -fdx.

Workflow

1. Preflight:

   • Run git rev-parse --show-toplevel, git status -sb, git remote -v, and command -v git.
   • Detect current branch and upstream tracking branch.

2. Check whether repo is local-only by policy:

   • If repository policy says it must stay local-only, stop and report local-only repo: push skipped.
   • Otherwise continue to remote inspection.

3. Check whether repo has a remote:

   • If no remotes are configured, stop and report no remote configured: push skipped.
   • If remotes exist, continue.

4. Ensure commit state is push-ready:

   • If there are uncommitted changes, load and follow ../git-commit/SKILL.md first.
   • Continue only when the working tree is clean or when remaining files are intentionally untracked and out of push scope.

5. Enforce pre-push verification gates:

   • Run pre-commit checks where available.
   • Run relevant tests (smallest meaningful subset first).
   • Run CI checks (local equivalents or remote-triggered flow) and require a passing result before push.

6. Push safely:

   • If upstream is configured, run git push.
   • If upstream is not configured, run git push -u origin <current-branch>.
   • Never use force flags.

7. Verify result:

   • Report git status -sb and git log --oneline -n 1.
   • Confirm branch/upstream alignment and whether push completed.

8. If pushing is disallowed here:

   • Provide one copy-pasteable command block with exact verification and push commands in order.
   • Mark push status as pending.