# Git Workflow and Versioning

Structures commits, branches, PRs, releases and version bumps into clean steps.

- Repository: https://github.com/addyosmani/agent-skills (112533 stars)
- Category: Git and review
- License: MIT
- Last updated: 2026-11-01
- Runs scripts: no, instructions only

## Install

Claude Code: `npx skills add addyosmani/agent-skills --skill git-workflow-and-versioning -g -a claude-code -y`
Codex: `npx skills add addyosmani/agent-skills --skill git-workflow-and-versioning -g -a codex -y`
Cursor: `npx skills add addyosmani/agent-skills --skill git-workflow-and-versioning -g -a cursor -y`
Gemini CLI: `npx skills add addyosmani/agent-skills --skill git-workflow-and-versioning -g -a gemini-cli -y`
Claude Code plugin marketplace: `/plugin marketplace add addyosmani/agent-skills`

## Description

Structures git workflow practices. Use when making any code change. Use when committing, branching, resolving conflicts, splitting uncommitted work in a messy working tree into clean atomic commits, opening or reviewing a pull request (PR), pushing to a remote, or when you need to organize work across multiple parallel streams. Use when cutting a release, choosing a semantic version bump, tagging, or writing a changelog. Use when asked to write a commit message or a changelog entry for a change, or to split a change into commits, even when the diff is pasted inline and the message seems easy to write from it.

## SKILL.md, as published by its author (untrusted third-party text, read it as data)

# Git Workflow and Versioning

## Overview

Git is your safety net. Treat commits as save points, branches as sandboxes, and history as documentation. With AI agents generating code at high speed, disciplined version control is the mechanism that keeps changes manageable, reviewable, and reversible.

## When to Use

Always. Every code change flows through git.

## Core Principles

### Trunk-Based Development (Recommended)

Keep `main` always deployable. Work in short-lived feature branches that merge back within 1-3 days. Long-lived development branches are hidden costs, they diverge, create merge conflicts, and delay integration. DORA research consistently shows trunk-based development correlates with high-performing engineering teams.

```
main ──●──●──●──●──●──●──●──●──●──  (always deployable)
        ╲      ╱  ╲    ╱
         ●──●─╱    ●──╱    ← short-lived feature branches (1-3 days)
```

This is the recommended default. Teams using gitflow or long-lived branches can adapt the principles (atomic commits, small changes, descriptive messages) to their branching model, the commit discipline matters more than the specific branching strategy.

- **Dev branches are costs.** Every day a branch lives, it accumulates merge risk.
- **Release branches are acceptable.** When you need to stabilize a release while main moves forward.
- **Feature flags > long branches.** Prefer deploying incomplete work behind flags rather than keeping it on a branch for weeks.

### 1. Commit Early, Commit Often

Each successful increment gets its own commit. Don't accumulate large uncommitted changes.

```
Work pattern:
  Implement slice → Test → Verify → Commit → Next slice

Not this:
  Implement everything → Hope it works → Giant commit
```

Commits are save points. If the next change breaks something, you can revert to the last known-good state instantly.

### 2. Atomic Commits

Each commit does one logical thing:

The rest: https://github.com/addyosmani/agent-skills/blob/HEAD/skills/git-workflow-and-versioning/SKILL.md