Git Strategy Advisor

Lightweight nudge for non-routine git decisions: branch or commit-on-main, push now or wait, PR or direct merge. Advisory only — never executes. For routine commits, the model should skip this skill and just commit.

Session-scope discipline is enforced structurally by the session-scope-guard PreToolUse hook (~/.claude/hooks/session-scope-guard.py), which refuses bulk-stage patterns (-A, ., -u) and refuses commits whose staged paths weren't modified this session. This skill assumes the hook is in place; if you're operating without it, follow the session-scope rule below manually.

When to Use

A non-trivial feature is about to begin and you're unsure of the branch model
Implementation is far enough along that "how do I integrate this?" isn't obvious
The work spans multiple files and you want a quick sanity check on push/PR scope

When NOT to Use

Routine single-commit fixes — just commit
Executing the commit/push — use /commit-commands:commit or /commit-commands:commit-push-pr
Final integration decision after work is fully done — use superpowers:finishing-a-development-branch
Creating an isolated workspace — use superpowers:using-git-worktrees
Anything where the hook needs to be bypassed (escalate to the user, don't silently set SESSION_SCOPE_BYPASS)

Session-scope rule (one line)

Stage only paths this session modified. Never git add -A / . / -u. Flag dirty paths Claude didn't touch — don't include them. The session-scope-guard hook will reject violations regardless.

Heuristic table

Walk top-down; the first matching row wins.

| Situation | Recommendation | |---|---| | ≤3 files, <100 lines, on main, solo | Commit + push directly to main | | Many files, one topic, on main, solo | Commit + push to main; consider a branch only if main is shared with collaborators or CI is sensitive | | Multi-topic dirty tree | Split into logical commits, then push each | | WIP across multiple sessions, not ready to ship | Create a feature/ branch, push to back up work, no PR yet | | Feature complete, want review or to track in a PR | Branch + push + open PR | | Out-of-session files dirty | Flag them in the response; do NOT include them. The hook will block if you try. |

Branch naming (when a branch is the answer)

{type}/{2-4-word-description}, lowercased, hyphen-separated, ≤40 chars. Type prefix:

fix/ if the work fixes a bug
refactor/ if the work restructures without changing behavior
docs/ if documentation-only
feature/ otherwise

Output shape

When this skill is invoked, respond with this terse block (no YAML schema, no confidence calibration, no warnings array):

Recommendation: <commit + push to main | branch + push | branch + push + PR | review-only>
Stage:          <path/a, path/b, ...>  (or "none — out-of-session changes only")
Skip:           <out-of-session paths, if any>
Branch name:    <only if branching>
Commands:
  git add path/a path/b
  git commit -m "<one-line summary>"
  git push   (or `git push -u origin <branch>` if new branch)
  (optional: gh pr create --fill if PR)

If the session set is empty AND the working tree is dirty, recommendation is review-only and the commands section is omitted.

Worked example

Session has modified src/foo.py and tests/test_foo.py. git status also shows an untracked notes.md that no tool call touched.

Recommendation: commit + push to main
Stage:          src/foo.py, tests/test_foo.py
Skip:           notes.md (out-of-session, untracked)
Commands:
  git add src/foo.py tests/test_foo.py
  git commit -m "<one-line summary>"
  git push

Notes

The hook is the structural guarantee; this skill is the brief advisory layer on top.
If you need to bypass the hook intentionally (rare — e.g., committing files generated by a sub-agent you explicitly trust), escalate to the user before setting SESSION_SCOPE_BYPASS=1. Do not bypass silently.
This skill does not delegate to other skills. It is a leaf node.