ss-sdd-finishing

To safely merge a feature branch into main, validate your state file to confirm implementation completion, then run a local git merge with --no-ff. This ensures the branch is integrated safely before any cleanup or state deletion occurs.

State validation in pipeline automation is the process of parsing a JSON state file to verify that required stages, such as implementation_complete, are finished before allowing a final merge. This gate check prevents merging incomplete features into main.

To clean up a git feature branch after a local merge, delete the branch using git branch -d only after the merge succeeds. Then remove the pipeline state file using plain rm to ensure no metadata is left behind without remote operations.

The finishing stage does not support remote git operations or force manipulation. It strictly prohibits committing or force-manipulating the state file and focuses entirely on local merge behavior, safe branch deletion, and plain file removal.

Your git merge fails when finalizing a pipeline if the state validation gate detects an incomplete stage or missing branch name. The merge loop surfaces conflicts and hook failures verbatim, blocking branch deletion until the merge succeeds.

You cannot use this pipeline finishing process if implementation is incomplete. The state validation gate requires stages_completed to include implementation_complete and a non-empty branch name before proceeding with the merge and cleanup workflow.