holocron/plugins/git/skills/git-branches/references/branch-operations.md

source_keys

source_keys
context7-git-htmldocs

Per-action command mapping

One command per action. Where two forms exist, the first is the default and the second the escape hatch.

• create — git switch -c <branch> <base>. Base comes from the config's base_branch (main under GitHub Flow, usually develop under Gitflow).
• switch — git switch <branch> moves to an existing local branch; it aborts rather than clobbering conflicting local changes. git switch - returns to the previous branch.
• delete (local) — git branch -d <branch> refuses when the branch holds unmerged commits, which is why it is the default. git branch -D <branch> forces the deletion and discards that work — only after the destructive-operation gates pass and confirm: true is set.
• delete (remote) — not this skill's. Deleting a remote branch is a push, and every remote-side gate lives in git-remotes; hand it there rather than running the push from here. Its references/push.md carries the command and the refspec form.
• rename — git branch -m <old> <new>.
• list — git branch (local), -a (local plus remote-tracking), -r (remote-tracking only), --merged / --no-merged (filter by merge status into the current branch).
• track — git branch --set-upstream-to=origin/<branch> sets an upstream without pushing. git branch -vv shows the tracking state of every local branch.

get-intent

Git has no native field for free-text branch metadata, and this skill does not persist any. On create, the intent value is only returned in the structured result — the caller decides whether to store it.

On get-intent, either parse the intent back out of the branch-name convention (feature/<intent-slug>) or return { "intent": null } when the caller never persisted the create-time value. Never fabricate an intent: a downstream commit message built on a guessed intent is worse than one built on none.

Stashing work in progress

A switch aborts rather than clobbering conflicting local changes (see Gotchas). Stash is the way past it: it shelves the working tree and index so the branch pointer can move.

• save — git stash push -m "<message>". Add -u to include untracked files; verified on Git 2.39.5, a plain push leaves them in place, and a plain push with only untracked changes reports No local changes to save and stashes nothing. Bare git stash is push with no message.
• restore — git stash pop applies the newest entry and deletes it. git stash apply stash@{n} applies without deleting, for replaying one shelf onto more than one branch.
• list — git stash list; git stash show -p stash@{n} prints that entry's diff.
• drop — git stash drop stash@{n} deletes one entry. git stash clear deletes all of them and nothing recovers them — confirm before running it.
• branch from a stash — git stash branch <branch> stash@{n} creates a branch at the commit the stash was taken from and pops it there. Use it when the stash no longer applies to the current tip.

A conflicting pop keeps the entry. Verified on 2.39.5: it exits 1, writes conflict markers, prints "The stash entry is kept in case you need it again", and git stash list still shows it. Resolve, git add, then git stash drop the entry by hand — otherwise it silently accumulates.