Dev10x:ticket-branch

Create Git Branch for Ticket

Orchestration

This skill follows references/task-orchestration.md patterns. Create a task at invocation, mark completed when done:

REQUIRED: Create a task at invocation. Execute at startup:

1. TaskCreate(subject="Create ticket branch", activeForm="Creating branch")

Mark completed when done: TaskUpdate(taskId, status="completed")

Overview

This skill creates a properly named git branch following the project convention:

• Regular repo: username/TICKET-ID/short-slug
• Worktree: username/TICKET-ID/worktree-name/short-slug

It ensures you're on the latest develop branch before creating the new branch and automatically detects if running in a git worktree.

When to Use This Skill

Use this skill when:

• Starting work on a new ticket/issue
• Need to create a feature branch with proper naming convention
• Want to ensure you're branching from latest develop
• Have a ticket ID and title ready

Input Requirements

This skill requires:

1. Ticket ID - The ticket identifier (e.g., "PAY-133", "ENG-42")
2. Ticket Title - The ticket title to generate slug from (e.g., "Fix MotorTimeoutException in payment processing")

Workflow

Step 1: Validate Current Git State

Check the current git status and warn if there are uncommitted changes:

git status --porcelain

If there are uncommitted changes:

• Warn the user: "You have uncommitted changes. Please commit or stash them before creating a new branch."
• Ask if they want to continue anyway
• If no, stop the workflow

Step 2: Update to Latest Develop

Ensure we're working from the latest develop branch:

Standard repo:

git fetch origin develop
git checkout develop
git pull origin develop

Worktree (develop is checked out in the main repo):

git fetch origin develop
# Cannot checkout develop — it's used by the main worktree.
# Branch directly from origin/develop in Step 6 instead:
#   git checkout -b <branch> origin/develop

Error handling:

• If git checkout develop fails because develop is checked out elsewhere (worktree), skip checkout and branch from origin/develop in Step 6
• If git pull fails (e.g., merge conflicts), inform the user and stop
• Both errors should provide clear guidance on how to resolve

Step 3: Generate Branch Slug

Transform the ticket title into a URL-friendly slug:

Rules:

1. Convert to lowercase
2. Replace spaces with hyphens
3. Remove special characters (keep only alphanumeric and hyphens)
4. Limit to 3-4 words maximum for brevity
5. Remove common words like "a", "the", "in", "for", "with" unless essential

Examples:

• "Fix MotorTimeoutException in payment processing" → fix-motor-timeout
• "Add retry mechanism for Square API calls" → add-retry-mechanism
• "Update customer search indexing algorithm" → update-search-indexing
• "Remove deprecated payment gateway" → remove-deprecated-gateway
• "Refactor invoice generation service" → refactor-invoice-generation

Implementation approach:

# Pseudo-code for slug generation
title = "Fix MotorTimeoutException in payment processing"
words = title.lower().split()
# Remove common words
significant_words = [w for w in words if w not in ['a', 'the', 'in', 'for', 'with', 'of', 'to', 'and']]
# Take first 3-4 words
slug_words = significant_words[:4]
# Clean and join
slug = '-'.join(slug_words).replace('[^a-z0-9-]', '')

Step 4: Detect Worktree (if applicable)

Detect whether we're in a worktree and extract its name.

Primary: CWD-based detection (no subshell, no permission friction):

Split the current working directory on .worktrees/ and take the first path segment after it. Example: /work/example/.worktrees/app-pos-7/ yields app-pos-7.

pwd | grep -oP '\.worktrees/\K[^/]+'

Fallback: git subshell (only when CWD is not under .worktrees/):

if [ -f .git ]; then
  worktree_name=$(basename "$(git rev-parse --show-toplevel)")
fi

Detection rules:

1. If CWD contains .worktrees/ → extract name from path (primary)
2. Else if .git is a file → use git subshell fallback
3. Else (.git is a directory) → main repo, no worktree prefix

Step 5: Generate Branch Name

Combine username, ticket ID, optional worktree name, and slug:

Format:

• Regular repo: username/TICKET-ID/slug
• Worktree: username/TICKET-ID/worktree-name/slug

Get current username:

git config user.name | tr '[:upper:]' '[:lower:]' | tr ' ' '-'

Or use a default based on the git remote URL if available.

Branch name assembly:

username="janusz"
ticket_id="PAY-133"
slug="fix-motor-timeout"

if [ -n "$worktree_name" ]; then
  branch="${username}/${ticket_id}/${worktree_name}/${slug}"
else
  branch="${username}/${ticket_id}/${slug}"
fi

Example outputs:

Regular repo:

• janusz/PAY-133/fix-motor-timeout
• janusz/ENG-42/add-retry-mechanism

Worktree (e.g., in /work/example/.worktrees/app-pos-7):

• janusz/PAY-133/app-pos-7/fix-motor-timeout
• janusz/ENG-42/app-pos-7/add-retry-mechanism
• janusz/PAY-200/app-pos-7/update-search-indexing

Step 6: Create the Branch

Create and checkout the new branch:

git checkout -b username/TICKET-ID/slug
# or for worktree:
git checkout -b username/TICKET-ID/worktree-name/slug

Error handling:

• If branch already exists, inform user and ask if they want to check it out
• If creation fails for other reasons, report the error

Step 7: Confirm Success

Display a success message with the branch name:

Created and checked out branch: janusz/PAY-133/app-pos-7/fix-motor-timeout

Branch details:
- Base: develop (commit abc1234)
- Pattern: username/TICKET-ID/worktree-name/slug
- Worktree: app-pos-7
- Ready for work!

For regular repos (no worktree):

Created and checked out branch: janusz/PAY-133/fix-motor-timeout

Branch details:
- Base: develop (commit abc1234)
- Pattern: username/TICKET-ID/slug
- Ready for work!

Important Notes

• Always validate git state before making changes
• Ensure develop is up-to-date to avoid merge conflicts later
• Keep slugs short and meaningful (3-4 words max)
• Handle errors gracefully with clear user guidance
• Don't force operations - confirm with user when there are issues
• Worktree detection: Always check if running in a worktree and include the worktree name in the branch
• Worktree name should be placed between the ticket ID and the slug (e.g., janusz/PAY-133/app-pos-7/slug)
• Terminal title: The Konsole tab title and statusline show the ticket ID from the branch name. The title updates on session start, so mid-session branch switches won't refresh it automatically.
• Never git -C <path> (GH-760 F5): git -C breaks allow-rule matching in settings.local.json. The CWD is always set correctly — run git commands without -C.

Example Usage

Example 1: Basic usage (regular repo)

User request:

Create branch for PAY-133: Fix MotorTimeoutException in payment processing

Current state: Working in main repo (not a worktree)

Workflow execution:

1. Check git status (clean)
2. Fetch and pull latest develop
3. Generate slug: fix-motor-timeout
4. Detect worktree: .git is a directory → not a worktree
5. Get username: janusz
6. Create branch: janusz/PAY-133/fix-motor-timeout
7. Confirm success

Result:

Created and checked out branch: janusz/PAY-133/fix-motor-timeout

Example 2: Worktree usage

User request:

Create branch for PAY-133: Fix MotorTimeoutException in payment processing

Current state: Working in /work/example/.worktrees/app-pos-7 (a worktree)

Workflow execution:

1. Check git status (clean)
2. Fetch and pull latest develop
3. Generate slug: fix-motor-timeout
4. Detect worktree: .git is a file → worktree detected
5. Extract worktree name: app-pos-7
6. Get username: janusz
7. Create branch: janusz/PAY-133/app-pos-7/fix-motor-timeout
8. Confirm success

Result:

Created and checked out branch: janusz/PAY-133/app-pos-7/fix-motor-timeout

Branch details:
- Base: develop (commit abc1234)
- Pattern: username/TICKET-ID/worktree-name/slug
- Worktree: app-pos-7
- Ready for work!

Example 3: With uncommitted changes

User request:

Create branch for ENG-42: Add retry mechanism for Square API

Current state: Uncommitted changes in working directory

Workflow execution:

1. Check git status (finds uncommitted changes)
2. Warn user: "You have uncommitted changes. Please commit or stash them first."
3. Ask if they want to continue
4. If yes, proceed with branch creation
5. If no, stop workflow

Example 4: Branch already exists

User request:

Create branch for PAY-100: Update customer search

Current state: Branch janusz/PAY-100/app-pos-7/update-customer-search already exists (in worktree)

Workflow execution:

1. Check git status (clean)
2. Fetch and pull latest develop
3. Detect worktree: app-pos-7
4. Attempt to create branch
5. Detect branch exists
6. Ask user: "Branch janusz/PAY-100/app-pos-7/update-customer-search already exists. Would you like to check it out?"
7. If yes, git checkout janusz/PAY-100/app-pos-7/update-customer-search
8. If no, stop workflow

Integration with Other Skills

This skill is designed to be used standalone or as part of larger workflows:

• Dev10x:work-on: Uses this skill for Step 4 (Create Git Branch)
• commit:to-new-ticket: Could use this skill to create branch before cherry-picking

When integrating, pass the ticket ID and title as parameters.