holocron/plugins/git/skills/git-submodules/SKILL.md

name, description, metadata

name	description	metadata
git-submodules	Use when managing Git submodules — the full lifecycle of a nested repository inside a superproject — including phrasings that never say the word, such as "add a dependency repo" or "vendor this repo inside ours". Not multiple checkouts of one repo -> `git-worktrees`. Not the superproject's own remotes -> `git-remotes`.	version category source_keys 1.0.0 git git-scm-submodule-docs

Gotchas

• update leaves the submodule in detached HEAD. Branch inside the submodule before editing, or the work is unreachable once the pointer moves.
• Push the submodule before the superproject. The superproject stores only a SHA, and one missing from the submodule's remote breaks every collaborator's update.
• --recursive is never the default. Subcommands stop one level deep, so nested submodules go stale silently.
• git rm leaves .git/modules/<name>/ behind. Nothing cleans it up, and it blocks re-adding a submodule there.

Working rules

Run rtk git from the superproject root. Enter the submodule directory only for commits and pushes that belong to the submodule's own history — the two repositories have independent histories, and the same command from the wrong directory writes to the wrong one.

Before committing a superproject pointer, run rtk git submodule status --recursive. Prefixes: - not initialized, + working tree differs from the recorded commit, U merge conflict. Add --cached to read the SHAs the superproject index will record rather than the working-tree state. A -dirty suffix means uncommitted changes inside the submodule, and committing the pointer over them pins a state nobody else can reproduce.

To run one command across every submodule: rtk git submodule foreach --recursive '<cmd>'. Inside <cmd>, Git sets $name, $sm_path, $displaypath, $sha1 and $toplevel; append || : to continue past a failure instead of aborting the traversal. $sm_path and $displaypath name the same directory from different vantage points — if which one you want is not obvious, read the variable table in references/setup-and-update.md before writing the command.

Dispatch

Read only the row that matches the request.

Task	Reference
Clone a superproject with submodules; add, initialize, update or re-pin one; run a command across all of them with foreach	references/setup-and-update.md
Change where a submodule points — sync, set-url, set-branch, a local mirror override, absorbgitdirs, or any .gitmodules / .git/config key	references/urls-and-config.md
Remove a submodule, or deinit one without removing it	references/removal.md

Removal and deinit are destructive: state what will be deleted and get confirmation before executing.

Output format

operation: <clone|add|init|update|status|sync|set-url|set-branch|absorbgitdirs|deinit|remove>
status: <success|error|partial>
message: <one line; include git's own output on error>
details:
  - <submodule-path>: <state>
conflicts: [<submodule-path>, ...]
next_step: <recovery action, when status is error or partial>