Skills › Compound Engineering › ce-commit-push-pr › branch-creation.md

branch-creation.md

47 lines · skills/ce-commit-push-pr/references/branch-creation.md at 3449230

Involves a person

Most marks come from matching words in the file, so treat them as pointers.

1# Branch creation from default branch

3Local `<base>` may have stale commits (another session/worktree advanced it) or commits the user authored intending to branch from later. Local git can't distinguish these — ask when unpushed commits are present.

Branch creation from default branch

Local <base> may have stale commits (another session/worktree advanced it) or commits the user authored intending to branch from later. Local git can't distinguish these — ask when unpushed commits are present.

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5## Decision flow

Decision flow

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7### 1. Fetch fresh remote base

9```bash

10git fetch --no-tags origin <base>

11```

13If fetch fails (network, auth, no remote), use the fallback at the bottom.

1. Fetch fresh remote base

git fetch --no-tags origin <base>

If fetch fails (network, auth, no remote), use the fallback at the bottom.

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15### 2. Check for unpushed local commits on `<base>`

17```bash

18git log origin/<base>..HEAD --oneline

19```

21- **Empty output:** set `BASE_REF=origin/<base>` and proceed to step 3.

22- **Non-empty output:** show the commit list and ask (per the "Asking the user" convention in `SKILL.md`):

24 > "Local `<base>` has N unpushed commits not on `origin/<base>`. Carry them onto the new feature branch, or leave them on local `<base>`?"

26 - **Carry forward** → `BASE_REF=HEAD`. The new branch starts from local HEAD, preserving the commits.

27 - **Leave on `<base>`** → `BASE_REF=origin/<base>`. The new branch starts clean; commits remain on local `<base>`.

29 Never default silently — carrying foreign commits into a PR is worse than asking again.

2. Check for unpushed local commits on `<base>`

git log origin/<base>..HEAD --oneline

Empty output: set BASE_REF=origin/<base> and proceed to step 3.
Non-empty output: show the commit list and ask (per the "Asking the user" convention in SKILL.md):

"Local <base> has N unpushed commits not on origin/<base>. Carry them onto the new feature branch, or leave them on local <base>?"

Carry forward → BASE_REF=HEAD. The new branch starts from local HEAD, preserving the commits.
**Leave on <base>** → BASE_REF=origin/<base>. The new branch starts clean; commits remain on local <base>.

Never default silently — carrying foreign commits into a PR is worse than asking again.

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31### 3. Create the feature branch

33```bash

34git checkout --no-overwrite-ignore -b <branch-name> "$BASE_REF"

35```

37If checkout fails because uncommitted or ignored files would be overwritten, stop and ask the user to handle the colliding paths. In `mode:pipeline`, report the blocker without asking. Do not stash or remove the colliding paths.

3. Create the feature branch

git checkout --no-overwrite-ignore -b <branch-name> "$BASE_REF"

If checkout fails because uncommitted or ignored files would be overwritten, stop and ask the user to handle the colliding paths. In mode:pipeline, report the blocker without asking. Do not stash or remove the colliding paths.

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Involves a person stop and ask :37

39## Fetch failure fallback

41If `git fetch` fails, branch from current local HEAD:

43```bash

44git checkout -b <branch-name>

45```

47Note in the user-facing summary that base freshness was not verified. Skip the unpushed-commits check — without a fresh `origin/<base>`, the answer is unreliable.

Fetch failure fallback

If git fetch fails, branch from current local HEAD:

git checkout -b <branch-name>

Note in the user-facing summary that base freshness was not verified. Skip the unpushed-commits check — without a fresh origin/<base>, the answer is unreliable.

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