finishing-a-development-branch

This skill guides finishing a git development branch by requiring test verification first, then offering exactly four explicit choices: merge locally into the derived base branch, push to create a pull request, keep the branch as-is, or discard it with confirmation.

The options for integrating a feature branch are merging locally into the derived base branch, pushing to open a pull request, retaining the branch for later work, or discarding it entirely. Worktree-aware cleanup is automatically performed for merge, PR, and discard paths.

Yes, test verification is required before any merge, pull request, or discard actions are offered. This test-gated completion mechanism ensures your project test suite passes successfully, preventing broken integration or accidental loss of work before finalizing the branch.

Yes, you can keep a git worktree by selecting the option to retain the branch as-is. Worktree-aware cleanup is only performed for the merge, pull request, and discard paths, deliberately preserving your worktree when you explicitly choose to keep the branch.

The best way to clean up git worktrees when discarding a branch is to use a worktree-aware cleanup process that requires typed confirmation. This ensures safe removal of the discarded branch while preventing accidental loss of validated work during the discard workflow.