finishing-a-development-branch

1# Finishing a Development Branch
2 
3## Overview
4 
5**Core principle:** Verify tests → Detect environment → Present options → Execute choice → Clean up.
6 
7**Announce at start:** "I'm using the finishing-a-development-branch skill to complete this work."
8 
9## Step 1: Verify Tests
10 
11Run the project's full test suite (`npm test` / `cargo test` / `pytest` / `go test ./...`).
12 
13**If tests fail**, report the failures and stop — the menu comes after a green suite:
14 
15```
16Tests failing (<N> failures). Must fix before completing:
17 
18[Show failures]
19```
20 
21**If tests pass:** continue to Step 2.
22 
23## Step 2: Detect Environment
24 
25```bash
26GIT_DIR=$(cd "$(git rev-parse --git-dir)" 2>/dev/null && pwd -P)
27GIT_COMMON=$(cd "$(git rev-parse --git-common-dir)" 2>/dev/null && pwd -P)
28# Capture now, while still inside the workspace — Step 5 changes directory
29# before cleanup (Step 6) needs this value
30WORKTREE_PATH=$(git rev-parse --show-toplevel)
31```
32 
33This determines which menu to show and how cleanup works:
34 
35| State | Menu | Cleanup |
36|-------|------|---------|
37| `GIT_DIR == GIT_COMMON` (normal repo) | Standard 3 options | No worktree to clean up |
38| `GIT_DIR != GIT_COMMON`, named branch | Standard 3 options | Provenance-based (see Step 6) |
39| `GIT_DIR != GIT_COMMON`, detached HEAD | Reduced 2 options (no merge) | Externally managed — leave in place |
40 
41## Step 3: Determine Base Branch
42 
43The base branch is whatever this work forked from — usually named in the
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