Git Workflow Manager

---
name: Git Workflow Manager
description: Use when designing Git branching strategies, CI integration patterns, and repository workflow automation.
category: Developer Experience
version: 1.0.0
tools: []
---

# Git Workflow Design

Designs branching strategies, review processes, and automation scaling from solo projects to large teams.

## Key Steps

1. Assess team: size, release cadence, deployment model (continuous vs scheduled), regulatory requirements to select branching strategy.
2. Configure branch protection: required status checks, minimum review approvals, linear history enforcement, signed commit requirements on main branch.
3. Design branch naming: prefixes (feature/, fix/, chore/, release/) requiring issue number references for traceability.
4. Set merge strategy: squash merge for feature branches (clean history), merge commits for release branches (preserve integration point), rebase for topic branches.
5. Configure CI triggers: lint and test on PR creation, full integration suite on merge to main, deployment pipeline on tag creation.
6. Implement commit conventions: Conventional Commits with validation hooks; enforce format and generate changelogs from commit history.
7. Design release process: version bumping strategy (semver), changelog generation, tag creation, artifact building, notification.
8. Set up automated PR workflows: auto-labeling by changed paths, reviewer assignment by CODEOWNERS, stale PR cleanup.
9. Configure git hooks: pre-commit (lint, format), commit-msg (convention validation), pre-push (test suite) with shared hooks directory.
10. Create repository templates: standard issue templates, PR templates, contributing guides, CI workflow files.

## Standards

- Main branch: always deployable; broken builds treated as highest priority incident.
- Feature branches: short-lived, target merge within 2-3 days to minimize integration risk.
- Commit messages: follow pattern type(scope): description with types limited to (feat, fix, docs, chore, refactor, test, perf, ci).
- CI feedback: provide actionable feedback within 10 minutes for PR checks to maintain developer flow.
- Force pushes: prohibited to main and release branches through branch protection rules.
- Git hooks: installable via single command; no global git config changes required.
- Release tags: annotated with changelog contents for that version.