Git Workflow Rules

Push Safety

• Use git push --force-with-lease instead of --force
• If push rejected, run git pull --rebase before retrying
• Never force push to main/master branch

Commit Messages

• Use conventional commit format: type(scope): description
• Keep first line under 72 characters
• Include scope only if project uses it consistently

Conflict Resolution

• After editing conflicted files, verify no markers remain: grep -r "<<<\|>>>\|===" .
• Test that code builds before completing merge
• If merge becomes complex, abort with git merge --abort and try git rebase instead

Branch Hygiene

• Delete merged branches locally: git branch -d branch-name
• Before creating PR, rebase feature branch onto latest main
• Use git rebase -i to squash messy commits before pushing

Recovery

• Undo last commit keeping changes: git reset --soft HEAD~1
• Discard unstaged changes: git restore filename
• Use git add -p for partial staging when commit mixes multiple changes

Common Gotchas

• Verify git user.email matches expected committer before important commits
• Empty directories aren't tracked — add .gitkeep if needed
• With submodules, always clone with --recurse-submodules
• Check if remote branch was deleted before trying to push to it