finishing-a-development-branch

Finishing a Development Branch

Overview

Guide completion of development work by presenting clear options and handling chosen workflow.

Core principle: Verify tests → Present options → Execute choice → Clean up.

Announce at start: "I'm using the finishing-a-development-branch skill to complete this work."

The Process

Step 1: Verify Tests

Before presenting options, verify tests pass:

# Run project's test suite
npm test / cargo test / pytest / go test ./...

If tests fail:

Tests failing (<N> failures). Must fix before completing:

[Show failures]

Cannot proceed with merge/PR until tests pass.

Stop. Don't proceed to Step 2.

If tests pass: Continue to Step 1.5.

Step 1.5: Verify Docs in Sync

Soft gate — keep documentation aligned with the implementation before merging.

Invoke the documenting-changes skill. It walks all five doc layers (docs/, README.md, CHANGELOG.md, inline docstrings/JSDoc, plugin/skill metadata), maps each change to UPDATE / CREATE / SKIP, and presents the result to the user.

The user chooses now / defer / skip:

• Now → apply doc updates, then re-run tests (Step 1) before continuing.
• Defer → record the gap (issue, TODO(docs), or note in PR body) and continue.
• Skip → only valid when every affected change has a one-line justification confirming no public surface or behavior changed.

Continue to Step 2 once the user has decided.

Step 2: Determine Base Branch

# Try common base branches
git merge-base HEAD main 2>/dev/null || git merge-base HEAD master 2>/dev/null

Or ask: "This branch split from main - is that correct?"

Step 3: Present Options

Present exactly these 4 options:

Implementation complete. What would you like to do?

1. Merge back to <base-branch> locally
2. Push and create a Pull Request
3. Keep the branch as-is (I'll handle it later)
4. Discard this work

Which option?

Don't add explanation - keep options concise.

Step 4: Execute Choice

Option 1: Merge Locally

# Switch to base branch
git checkout <base-branch>

# Pull latest
git pull

# Merge feature branch
git merge <feature-branch>

# Verify tests on merged result
<test command>

# If tests pass
git branch -d <feature-branch>

Option 2: Push and Create PR

# Push branch
git push -u origin <feature-branch>

# Create PR
gh pr create --title "<title>" --body "$(cat <<'EOF'
## Summary
<2-3 bullets of what changed>

## Test Plan
- [ ] <verification steps>
EOF
)"

Option 3: Keep As-Is

Report: "Keeping branch ."

Option 4: Discard

Confirm first:

This will permanently delete:
- Branch <name>
- All commits: <commit-list>
Type 'discard' to confirm.

Wait for exact confirmation.

If confirmed:

git checkout <base-branch>
git branch -D <feature-branch>

Quick Reference

Option	Merge	Push	Cleanup Branch
1. Merge locally	✓	-	✓
2. Create PR	-	✓	-
3. Keep as-is	-	-	-
4. Discard	-	-	✓ (force)

Common Mistakes

Skipping test verification

• Problem: Merge broken code, create failing PR
• Fix: Always verify tests before offering options

Skipping docs verification

• Problem: Code merges, docs drift, future readers hit "what does this do?"
• Fix: Always run Step 1.5 (documenting-changes) before offering merge/PR options

Open-ended questions

• Problem: "What should I do next?" → ambiguous
• Fix: Present exactly 4 structured options

No confirmation for discard

• Problem: Accidentally delete work
• Fix: Require typed "discard" confirmation

Red Flags

Never:

• Proceed with failing tests
• Merge without verifying tests on result
• Delete work without confirmation
• Force-push without explicit request

Always:

• Verify tests before offering options
• Present exactly 4 options
• Get typed confirmation for Option 4

Integration

Called by:

• subagent-driven-development (Step 7) - After all tasks complete
• executing-plans (Step 5) - After all batches complete