Git Commit, Push, and PR

Asking the user: When this skill says "ask the user", use the platform's blocking question tool: AskUserQuestion in Claude Code (call ToolSearch with select:AskUserQuestion first if its schema isn't loaded), request_user_input in Codex, ask_question in Antigravity CLI (agy), ask_user in Pi (requires the pi-ask-user extension). Fall back to presenting the question in chat only when no blocking tool exists in the harness or the call errors (e.g., Codex edit modes) — not because a schema load is required. Never silently skip the question.

Mode

Description-only — user wants just a description ("write/draft a PR description", "describe this PR", or pasted a PR URL/number alone). Run Step 4 only; print the result. Apply only if the user asks. If a PR ref was pasted, pass it to Step 4 so Pre-A resolves the right range.
Description update — user wants to refresh/rewrite an existing PR's description with no commit/push intent. If no open PR, report and stop. Otherwise run Step 4 (PR mode using the existing PR's URL), then Step 5 to preview, confirm, and apply via gh pr edit.
Full workflow — otherwise. Run Steps 1-5 in order.

mode:pipeline modifier — set by orchestrated callers (e.g., lfg). Run the resolved mode non-interactively: suppress every blocking ask. Step 5's existing-PR rewrite question defaults to not rewriting; in description-update mode the preview ask is skipped and the rewrite applies directly (the update invocation itself is the apply intent); any other suppressed ask takes its conservative documented default (keep the current branch; if Pre-A cannot resolve a base, stop and report rather than guess).

Context

On platforms other than Claude Code, run the Context fallback below. In Claude Code, the labeled sections contain pre-populated data — use them directly.

Git status: !git status

Working tree diff: !git diff HEAD

Current branch: !git branch --show-current

Recent commits: !git log --oneline -10

Remote default branch: !git rev-parse --abbrev-ref origin/HEAD 2>/dev/null || echo 'DEFAULT_BRANCH_UNRESOLVED'

Existing PR check: !gh pr view --json url,title,body,state 2>/dev/null || echo 'NO_OPEN_PR'

Repo root (pre-resolved): !git rev-parse --show-toplevel 2>/dev/null || true

Context fallback

bash

printf '=== STATUS ===\n'; git status; printf '\n=== DIFF ===\n'; git diff HEAD; printf '\n=== BRANCH ===\n'; git branch --show-current; printf '\n=== LOG ===\n'; git log --oneline -10; printf '\n=== DEFAULT_BRANCH ===\n'; git rev-parse --abbrev-ref origin/HEAD 2>/dev/null || echo 'DEFAULT_BRANCH_UNRESOLVED'; printf '\n=== PR_CHECK ===\n'; gh pr view --json url,title,body,state 2>/dev/null || echo 'NO_OPEN_PR'; printf '\n=== REPO_ROOT ===\n'; git rev-parse --show-toplevel 2>/dev/null || true

Step 1: Resolve branch and PR state

The remote default branch returns something like origin/main; strip the origin/ prefix. If it returned DEFAULT_BRANCH_UNRESOLVED or bare HEAD, try gh repo view --json defaultBranchRef --jq '.defaultBranchRef.name'. If both fail, fall back to main.

Branch routing:

Detached HEAD — automatically create a feature branch from the current HEAD before continuing. Derive the branch name from the change content, run git checkout -b <branch-name>, re-read git branch --show-current, and use that result for the rest of the workflow. Do not ask whether to create the branch — invoking the full commit/push/PR workflow is already confirmation that the work should become branch-backed. If the derived branch name already exists, choose a non-conflicting suffix or ask only if the conflict cannot be resolved safely.
On default branch with work to do (uncommitted, unpushed, or no upstream) — automatically create a feature branch (pushing the default directly is not supported). Derive a name from the change content and continue at Step 3, which handles branch creation safely. Do not ask whether to branch — committing on the default is not an option here.
On default branch with no work — report no feature branch work and stop.
Feature branch — continue.

Note the existing PR URL and body from the PR check if state: OPEN. Step 5 uses the URL to route between new-PR and existing-PR application. Step 4 uses the existing body as preservation context when rewriting.

Step 2: Determine conventions

Match repo style for commit messages and PR titles (project instructions in context > recent commits > conventional commits as default). With conventional commits, default to fix: over feat: when ambiguous — adding code to remedy broken or missing behavior is fix:. Reserve feat: for capabilities the user could not previously accomplish. The user may override.

Step 3: Commit and push

If on the default branch, branch creation needs to handle stale local <base>, unpushed commits on local <base>, and uncommitted changes that collide with the fresh remote base. Read references/branch-creation.md and follow its decision flow before continuing.

Scan changed files for naturally distinct concerns. If they clearly group into separate logical changes, create separate commits (2-3 max). Group at file level only — no git add -p. When ambiguous, one commit is fine.

Stage and commit each group. Avoid git add -A and git add . — they sweep in .env, build artifacts, and generated files:

bash

git add file1 file2 file3 && git commit -m "$(cat <<'EOF'
commit message here
EOF
)"

Then push:

bash

git push -u origin HEAD

If the working tree is clean and all commits are already pushed, this step is a no-op.

Step 4: Compose the PR title and body

You MUST read references/pr-description-writing.md in full — the core principle at the top governs every step. The only input it needs from this skill is the PR ref, if one was identified by mode dispatch (description-only with a pasted URL, description update, or confirmed existing-PR rewrite in full workflow). If Step 1 found an existing PR, pass its URL to Step 4 when rewriting so PR mode fetches the existing body and can preserve Related: / Fixes references already present there.

Evidence decision before composition. CE no longer owns a dedicated capture workflow; modern harnesses provide their own browser, screenshot, terminal recording, and artifact capture tools. Treat evidence as user-supplied context or as validation prose, not as a separate skill dispatch.

User supplied evidence (URL, markdown image/embed, local artifact path they want referenced) — incorporate it into the PR body as ## Demo, ## Screenshots, or ## Evidence, matching the artifact type. Do not invent or upload evidence.
User explicitly asks to include evidence but has not supplied it — ask for the URL/markdown/path, or tell them to use the current harness's capture flow and return with the artifact. Do not launch another CE skill.
Agent judgment on authored changes — if you authored the commits and know the change is non-observable (internal plumbing, type-only, backend refactor without user-facing effect, docs/markdown/changelog/CI/test-only, pure refactors), skip evidence handling without asking.

Otherwise, if the branch diff changes observable behavior (UI, CLI output, API behavior with runnable code, generated artifacts, workflow output), include a concise validation note in the PR body describing what was exercised and how it behaved. If no real run was possible because of unavailable credentials, paid services, deploy-only infrastructure, hardware, or missing local setup, say that plainly in the validation section.

Do not block PR creation solely because no visual artifact exists. Test output and manual validation notes are acceptable validation evidence, but do not label test output as "Demo" or "Screenshots."

Concept teaching gate before composition. Use the pre-resolved repo root from Context (if it is empty or shows a literal command string, resolve it at runtime with git rev-parse --show-toplevel) and read <repo-root>/.compound-engineering/config.local.yaml with the native file-read tool. Only an active (non-commented) pr_teaching_section: key counts — lines starting with # are YAML comments, and the shipped template documents keys as commented examples; matching those would silently flip the gate. The gate is off only when the active value is exactly false; a missing file, missing key, or any other value means the default: on. The same read resolves pr_teaching_archive: — on only when the active value is exactly true, otherwise off — and a per-run archive:on|off token overrides the archive key for this invocation.

Gate on — judge concept novelty and compose the section per Step B2 of the reference. The gate is single: when it is off, skip judgment, the section, the Step 5 trailer and offer, and archival entirely.
Gate off — compose the description without any concept handling.

Then continue with the rest of the reference (Steps A through D, including the Step B2 concept judgment when the gate is on) to compose the title and body.

Step 5: Apply and report

Description-only mode — print the title and body. Stop unless the user asks to apply.

New PR (full workflow, no existing PR from Step 1) — apply per "Applying via gh" below using gh pr create. Report the URL.

Existing PR (full workflow, found in Step 1) — the new commits are already on the PR from Step 3. Report the PR URL, then ask whether to rewrite the description.

No — done.
Yes — run Step 4 if not already done, then preview and apply (see below).

Description update mode, or existing-PR rewrite confirmed — preview before applying. Ask: "New title: <title> (<N> chars). Summary leads with: <first two sentences>. Total body: <L> lines. Apply?" If declined, the user may pass focus text back for a regenerate; do not apply. If confirmed, apply per "Applying via gh" below using gh pr edit and report the URL.

Explainer archival — runs only in full workflow, with pr_teaching_archive on, a composed ## New concepts section, and the apply confirmed (new-PR create, or existing-PR rewrite accepted); a declined rewrite skips archival entirely so no unlinked doc commit is left behind. All paths resolve from the pre-resolved repo root in Context, never the CWD. With two taught concepts, write one file per concept and stage both in the single commit. Execute as explicit transitions immediately before the gh call:

git check-ignore -q docs/explainers/YYYY-MM-DD-<concept-slug>.md (from the repo root) — the check works on not-yet-created paths. If the path is ignored, print a one-line warning and skip archival entirely, writing nothing (never git add -f).
Write the file (create the directory if needed) with YAML frontmatter title, date, input_shape: concept, subject, and the teaching content. If the file already exists from a prior run, overwrite it.
git add those file(s) only (never -A), commit with docs(explainer): teach <concept>[, <concept>], and push. If the commit reports nothing to commit, the doc is already committed from a prior run — keep the link and continue.
Splice a head-branch blob URL per doc into the ## New concepts section before applying.

If the doc write, commit, or push fails, warn and continue to PR creation without the link — never strand the flow between commit and PR.

Concept trailer — when a body applied by this run contains a ## New concepts section, print one line after the PR URL in every mode: New concepts: <name>[, <name>]. In interactive full-workflow runs follow it with one line per taught concept: Run /ce-explain <name> to go deeper. No trailer when this run applied no body — including a rewrite that was declined or pipeline-defaulted to no — or no PR exists.

Applying via gh

The body must be written to a temp file and passed via --body-file <path>. Never use --body-file -, stdin pipes, heredoc-to-stdin, or --body "$(cat ...)" — wrappers and stdin handling can silently produce an empty PR body while gh still exits 0 and returns a URL.

bash

BODY_FILE=$(mktemp "${TMPDIR:-/tmp}/ce-pr-body.XXXXXX") && cat >> "$BODY_FILE" <<'__CE_PR_BODY_END__'
<the composed body markdown goes here, verbatim>
__CE_PR_BODY_END__

The quoted sentinel keeps $VAR, backticks, and any literal EOF inside the body from being expanded.

For <TITLE>: substitute verbatim. If it contains ", `, $, or \, escape them or switch to single quotes.

bash

gh pr create --title "<TITLE>" --body-file "$BODY_FILE"   # new PR
gh pr edit   --title "<TITLE>" --body-file "$BODY_FILE"   # existing PR