Git Workflows

Generate comprehensive pull request descriptions by analyzing git state: staged changes, commit history, and diffs between commits or branches.

Git Data Scripts

Use the scripts in scripts/ to extract git data. Do not run raw git diff or git log commands directly — always use these scripts to ensure consistent output and exclude patterns.

scripts/git-diff.sh [repo-root] <ancestor>         # Diff between ancestor and HEAD
scripts/git-cached-diff.sh [repo-root]             # Staged (cached) changes
scripts/git-unstaged-diff.sh [repo-root]           # Unstaged changes (working tree vs index)
scripts/git-commit-messages.sh [repo-root] <ancestor>  # Commit messages from ancestor to HEAD

Always provide the target Git repository root explicitly. Every script accepts an optional first argument that specifies the root directory of the target Git repository. When omitted it defaults to the current working directory — but relying on the default is error-prone because the agent may be cd'd into the skill directory or another unrelated location. Pass the repository root explicitly to guarantee the scripts operate on the correct repo. The argument is validated with git rev-parse --git-dir; if a path is provided but is not a valid Git repository, the script will exit with an error rather than silently falling back to .:

scripts/git-diff.sh /path/to/repo main
# NOT: cd /path/to/repo && scripts/git-diff.sh main  (avoids wrong-cwd bugs)

Scripts are resolved relative to this skill file's directory. Always use the absolute path of the skill directory when invoking them (e.g., <skill-dir>/scripts/git-diff.sh — the agent knows <skill-dir> as the directory containing SKILL.md).

All scripts source common.sh, which provides the parse_repo_root helper for validating and extracting the optional repo-root argument, as well as build_exclude_args for pathspec exclusions.

Exclude patterns: Files matching patterns in scripts/excludes.conf are excluded from diff output. Set the GIT_SKILL_EXCLUDES env variable (colon-separated patterns) to override. Patterns are applied with :(exclude,glob) pathspec magic, so **/foo matches at any depth including the repository root. To debug the exact git command a script runs (e.g., when excludes seem to have no effect), set GIT_SKILL_DEBUG=1 — the script then echoes the shell-quoted command to stderr before executing it:

GIT_SKILL_DEBUG=1 scripts/git-cached-diff.sh /path/to/repo

Non-interactive by default: all script-driven git commands run with --no-pager and GIT_TERMINAL_PROMPT=0, so they never block on an interactive pager or a credential prompt. Override the prompt behavior explicitly with GIT_TERMINAL_PROMPT=1 if ever needed.

Operations

Read the reference file for an operation before starting it. Paths are relative to this skill's directory.

1. Review Changes — Code review of staged (1a), unstaged (1b), or cross-commit (1c) diffs. Read references/op_review.md, plus references/general_code_review_guidelines.md and any language-specific guidelines that apply (references/python_code_review_guidelines.md, references/rust_code_review_guidelines.md).
2. Generate Commit Message Summary — Summarize commit history from a given ancestor (see below).
3. Generate Commit Message for Staged Changes — Draft a conventional commit message for staged changes, with an optional review step. Read references/op_commit_message.md.
4. Create Pull Request Description — Compose a structured PR body from diffs and commits. Read references/op_pr_description.md.
5. Auto-Commit Unstaged Changes — Classify, group, and commit unstaged changes automatically. Read references/auto_commit_workflow.md.

To stage only part of a file's changes (used by operation 5 and by skills that fix review findings), read references/partial_staging.md.

2. Generate Commit Message Summary

Extract commit messages to understand the history:

scripts/git-commit-messages.sh <repo-root> <commit-or-branch>

Returns commit hashes and messages, useful for:

• Understanding changes across multiple commits
• Identifying key features/bug fixes
• Creating a changelog-style summary

Error Handling

If a script fails:

• Verify the <repo-root> argument points to a valid Git repository (git -C <repo-root> rev-parse --git-dir)
• Check the ancestor ref exists (commit hash or branch name)
• Ensure the scripts are executable (chmod +x scripts/*.sh)