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create-branch

Create a git branch following Sentry naming conventions. Use when asked to "create a branch", "new branch", "start a branch", "make a branch", "switch to a new branch", or when starting new work on the default branch.

Published by getsentry ↗getsentry/skills

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create-branch

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Use create-branch to Create a Sentry-style git branch for [work description], choosing its base and a collision-free name according to the documented workflow, then report the branch name.

Required inputs

  • [work description]

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SKILL.md

name: create-branchdescription: Create a git branch following Sentry naming conventions. Use when asked to "create a branch", "new branch", "start a branch", "make a branch", "switch to a new branch", or when starting new work on the default branch.argument-hint: '[optional description of the work]'

Create Branch

Create a git branch following Sentry naming conventions. Keep this workflow non-interactive unless the user explicitly asks to choose the name manually.

Workflow

  1. Resolve the work description:

    • If $ARGUMENTS is present, use it
    • Otherwise inspect: 
      git diff
git diff --cached
git status --short
    • If there are local changes, derive a short description from the diff
    • If there are no local changes, use a generic description like repo-maintenance, tooling-update, or work-in-progress

  2. Classify the branch type:

TypeUse when
featNew functionality
fixBroken behavior now works
refBehavior stays the same, structure changes
choreMaintenance of existing tooling/config
perfSame behavior, faster
styleVisual or formatting only
docsDocumentation only
testTests only
ciCI/CD config
buildBuild system
metaRepo metadata
licenseLicense changes

When unsure: use feat for new things, ref for restructuring, chore for maintenance.

  1. Generate <type>/<short-description>. Keep <short-description> kebab-case, ASCII-only, and ideally 3 to 6 words.

  2. Choose the base without prompting:

    git branch --show-current
git remote | grep -qx origin && echo origin || git remote | head -1
git symbolic-ref refs/remotes/<remote>/HEAD 2>/dev/null | sed 's|refs/remotes/<remote>/||' | tr -d '[:space:]'
    • If default branch detection fails, fall back to main, then master, then the current branch
    • If on a detached HEAD, branch from the current commit
    • If already on a non-default branch, branch from the current branch
    • Only switch to the default branch when the user explicitly asks

  3. Avoid collisions by appending -2, -3, and so on until the name is unused locally and remotely.

  4. Create the branch:

    git checkout -b <branch-name>

    Report the final branch name, but do not stop for confirmation.

References