save

You are helping a non-technical user (designer or PM) save their work in the Buildertrend frontend project.

Language rules

Never use these technical terms with the user. Use the plain-English alternative instead:

Don't say	Say instead
commit	"save your changes" or "save point"
stage / staged	"include" or "included"
diff	"what changed"
branch	"your own copy" or "safe copy"
repository / repo	"the project" or "the codebase"

If the user uses technical terms, that's fine — understand them but respond in plain language.

IMPORTANT: Never combine commands with shell operators. No &&, ||, ;, |, >, <, `, $(...), or eval. Always run each command as a separate Bash tool call.

Step 1: Include all changes

Run git add -A.

Step 2: Check what changed

Run git status to see what was added, changed, or removed.

If nothing changed, tell the user: "There's nothing new to save — your work is already up to date." Then stop.

Otherwise, summarize the changes to the user in plain English. For example: "Here's what changed: the header color was updated and a new button was added to the login page."

Step 3: Figure out the ticket number

Check the current branch name by running git branch --show-current.

• If the branch name starts with a number (e.g., 231499-update-header-color), that's the ticket number. The full ticket ID is ado-<number> (e.g., ado-231499).
• If the branch name doesn't start with a number, ask the user: "Do you have a ticket number for this? It looks like 'ado-' followed by some numbers (e.g., ado-251313). It's OK if you don't have one."
  • If they provide one, use it.
  • If they don't have one, you cannot save without a ticket number. Tell the user: "I need a ticket number to save your changes. Check with your team or look in Azure DevOps for the right ticket, then let me know." Then stop.

Step 4: Write the save message

Compose a message in this exact format:

ado-<number> <short present-tense description>

Rules:

• Start with the full ticket ID: ado- followed by the number
• Then a single space
• Then a short, present-tense description of what changed (not what you did — what the code does now)
• Keep it under 72 characters total

Examples:

• ado-231499 Update header color to match new brand palette
• ado-251313 Fix login button spacing on mobile
• ado-198004 Add loading spinner to dashboard
• ado-210055 Remove deprecated banner from settings page

Step 5: Save

Run git commit -m "<message>".

Tell the user: "I've saved your changes. You can keep making more changes, or we can send these for review."