Git Workflow

No Ticket, No Work (ENFORCED by hook)

Every piece of work MUST have a Linear ticket before starting:

• Create the ticket in Linear FIRST
• Create a branch referencing the ticket ID
• The enforce-ticket.sh hook blocks prompts on branches without ticket IDs
• This applies to ALL work: features, fixes, docs, chores

Branch Naming (ENFORCED by hook)

Format: <type>/<ticket-id>-<short-description>

Types: feat, fix, refactor, docs, test, chore

Examples:

• feat/eng-4-line-level-review
• docs/eng-5-developer-tooling
• fix/eng-6-parser-infinite-loop

Rules:

• Every branch MUST have a Linear ticket
• Branch name MUST start with a type prefix
• Branch name MUST contain the ticket ID (e.g., eng-4)
• Use lowercase with hyphens

Commit Message Format

feat(ENG-X): short description of what changed

- Bullet points explaining key changes
- Reference the ticket ID in the prefix

Prefixes: feat, fix, refactor, docs, test, chore

Merge Policy

• NEVER commit or push directly to main (enforced by hook)
• NEVER merge without a completed git-review from the user (enforced by hook)
• Merge to main via PR after tests pass AND user has reviewed all hunks via git-review
• Merge BEFORE starting dependent work (if ENG-4 needs ENG-3, merge ENG-3 first)
• One branch per Linear ticket — no stacking features on the same branch
• Short-lived branches (1-2 days max)

Review Gate (ENFORCED by hook)

Every PR requires the user to review changes with git-review first:

1. Agent finishes work, runs tests, pushes branch
2. User runs git-review main..<branch> to review all hunks
3. User marks all hunks as reviewed in the TUI
4. git-review gate check passes (all hunks reviewed)
5. Only then can a PR be created and merged

Agents MUST NOT create PRs or merge themselves. The user does both after their review.

Worktrees for Parallel Agents

• Each agent works in its own worktree: .trees/<ticket-id>/
• Prevents file conflicts between parallel agents
• Clean up worktrees after merging: git worktree remove .trees/<ticket-id>

What NOT to Do

• NEVER stack features on one branch (one ticket = one branch)
• NEVER branch off an unmerged feature branch (branch from main only)
• NEVER force push without explicit user approval
• NEVER work on main — create a feature branch first

Security Rules

• Sanitize all file paths to prevent directory traversal
• Validate git refs before passing to shell commands
• Never pass unsanitized user input to std::process::Command
• Never hardcode API keys or credentials

Pre-Commit Hook Awareness

• cargo fmt runs automatically on commit (if configured)
• After any code change, run cargo fmt before git diff to see true changes
• Hook scripts (.claude/hooks/) are NOT auto-formatted — edit carefully
• The protect-hooks.sh hook prompts before any hook modification