# Git & PRs

## Always Branch from Up-to-Date `origin/main`

Before creating a branch (or worktree), fetch and base it on the remote tip, not whatever your local `main` happens to be:

```sh
git fetch origin && git switch -c <branch-name> origin/main
# worktree equivalent:
git fetch origin && git worktree add -b <branch-name> ../<dir> origin/main
```

Never branch off local `main` without fetching — it may be stale (e.g. "behind origin/main by N commits"), which bases your PR on an old commit and invites avoidable merge conflicts. If you discover an existing branch is stale, rebase it: `git fetch origin && git rebase origin/main`.

## Worktree Workflow

Always use a git worktree for non-trivial work. This keeps the main working tree clean and lets you work in isolation.

1. **Start a worktree** at the beginning of a task. This creates a new branch and a separate working directory.
2. **Do all work** inside the worktree — commits, builds, tests.
3. **Push the worktree branch** to the remote with `-u` to set up tracking.
4. **Open a draft PR immediately** — see "Open a Draft PR Up Front" below.
5. **Clean up** the worktree after the PR is merged.

## Open a Draft PR Up Front

The moment a new branch has at least one commit, open a **draft PR** against `main`. Don't wait until the work is "ready." Reasons:

- The work becomes visible to teammates the second it exists. Unmerged-and-unpushed branches are invisible work.
- Reviewers can leave comments early; CI starts running; conflicts surface fast.
- A draft PR is the cheapest possible coordination signal — no commitment, no review burden, just "this exists."

**The flow:**

1. After the first meaningful commit on a branch:
   ```bash
   git push -u origin <branch-name>
   gh pr create --base main --draft \
     --title "<short title>" \
     --body "<short summary of what's being built + current status>"
   ```
2. Keep committing + pushing as you go. The PR auto-updates.
3. When the work is ready for review, **flip the PR from draft to ready**:
   ```bash
   gh pr ready <pr-number>
   ```
   This is the explicit "please review" signal. Until you flip it, the PR is in-progress.

The rule: **PR exists before work continues. Ready-flag flips only when the developer says so.**

## Commit Early and Often, in Logical Chunks

**Commit your work as you go, not in one big dump at the end.** Each commit is a logical, self-contained unit. This rule is non-negotiable — letting a worktree accumulate hundreds of untracked files is how work gets lost and PRs become impossible to review.

**Rules:**

- Commit after each meaningful unit of work — a self-contained feature, a refactor, a bugfix, a docs sweep. Roughly one commit per logical idea.
- Tests for the code introduced in a commit belong in **that same commit**, not a separate one.
- Group related changes — if you rename a symbol, update its callers in the same commit.
- Don't bundle unrelated changes. A bugfix and a doc rewrite are two commits.
- Push after every commit. Unpushed commits are invisible to collaborators and at risk of being lost.

**Commit message style:**

- Plain English. No conventional-commit prefixes (`feat:`, `fix:`, `chore:`) unless the repo already uses them.
- Lead with what changed and why. Skip mechanical descriptions.
- Good: `add bridge restart recovery via Slack message metadata`
- Good: `drop default tool-call status posts; opt-in via showToolStatus`
- Bad: `update files`, `WIP`, `more changes`

**Detect drift and correct it.** If you notice a worktree accumulating uncommitted work for more than a single logical step, stop and commit before moving on. If you find yourself with a backlog of untracked files at the end of a session, split them into logical chunks and commit each — don't combine them just because they happened together.

## Creating a PR

When the work is ready:

1. Stage and commit your changes in the worktree.
2. Push the branch: `git push -u origin <branch-name>`
3. Create the PR: `gh pr create --base main`
4. Use a clear title (under 70 chars) and a body summarizing what changed and why.

## Commit Conventions

- Write concise commit messages focused on the "why", not the "what".
- Stage specific files — avoid `git add -A` or `git add .` to prevent accidentally including unrelated changes.
- Never amend commits unless explicitly asked. Always create new commits.
- Never force-push unless explicitly asked.