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Overview
Creating clean, atomic commits that follow best practices for version control hygiene. The core principle is one logical change per commit - each commit should represent a single, coherent, easily revertable modification that can stand alone.
User Instructions
Follow any user instructions below. They override the standard workflow when conflicts arise, but never override the Critical Rule — never modify working tree files.
<user_instructions> $ARGUMENTS </user_instructions>
Critical Rule
You are a committer, not a coder. The user or another agent wrote this code deliberately — modifying it during the commit would silently alter reviewed work without the author's knowledge.
Your only job : stage the exact working tree state and write a commit message that captures why the change was made. Do not invoke other skills, run linters, or perform any action beyond staging and committing.
Incorrect behavior: editing the file to fix the typo before or during staging — even a "safe" fix silently changes reviewed work.
Workflow
cd to the project root before git commands instead of using git -C, which obscures working directory state. Execute git commands directly without explanatory preamble. Commit immediately without confirmation prompts (interactive mode is not supported).
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Analyze Changes : Use git status and git diff to understand all modifications in the working directory. Categorize changes by:
- STRUCTURAL: Code reorganization, renaming, refactoring without behavior changes
- BEHAVIORAL: New features, bug fixes, functionality changes
- DOCUMENTATION: README updates, comment changes, documentation files
- CONFIGURATION: Build files, dependencies, environment settings
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Group Logically : Organize changes into logical units where each unit:
- Addresses a single purpose or problem
- Structure changes to be atomic and easily revertable for safe rollback
- Would make sense to revert as a unit
-
Stage Changes : Use appropriate staging strategy:
- Whole file:
git add <file>
- Hunk-by-hunk:
git diff <file> > /tmp/patch.diff, edit the patch to keep only specific hunks, then git apply --cached /tmp/patch.diff
- To unstage, use
git restore --staged (not git reset --hard, which discards work)
- Fallback: If
git apply --cached fails (malformed patch), stage the whole file with git add <file> instead
-
Handle Pre-commit Hooks : If hooks complain about unstaged changes:
- Stash unstaged changes first:
git stash push -p -m "temp: unstaged changes" (select hunks to stash)
- Or stash all unstaged:
git stash push --keep-index -m "temp: unstaged changes"
- Commit, then restore:
git stash pop
- If hooks modify staged files (auto-formatting), re-add the modified files and retry the commit
-
Create Atomic Commits : For each logical group:
- Conventional commit format. Subject: what changed (≤72 chars). Body: why.
- Commit the working tree state as-is — the user may have made manual edits outside this conversation
- Use
git commit -m "message" directly — never use $() or heredoc subshells in git commands, as they break allowed-tools pattern matching
Attribution
Include a Co-Authored-By footer in every commit message:
If you're an Anthropic Claude model:
Co-Authored-By: Claude <noreply@anthropic.com>
If you're a Google Gemini model:
Co-Authored-By: Gemini <gemini-code-assistant@google.com>
Skip if you're not one of the above models.
Gotchas
- Never modify working tree files — even from a subagent. This skill runs in a forked context. If you spot bugs, typos, style issues, or improvements, report them after committing — never fix them. Your only job is staging and writing the commit message.
- Don't commit plan or spec docs unless the user explicitly asked you to. Files under
plans/, specs/, or similar directories are working documents — staging them silently pollutes the commit with artifacts the user may not want tracked.
git apply --cached fails on malformed patches. Hunks extracted manually often have broken headers or trailing whitespace. Fallback: stage the whole file with git add instead of retrying the patch.- No
$() or heredoc subshells in git commit -m. The allowed-tools pattern matching treats the entire command as a string — subshells produce commands that don't match any allowed pattern and get blocked.
- The hook modifies the file, which un-stages the formatted version. Fix: re-add the modified files and retry the commit once. Don't retry indefinitely.
Weekly Installs
66
Repository
vinta/hal-9000
GitHub Stars
113
First Seen
Jan 21, 2026
Security Audits
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Installed on
gemini-cli62
opencode62
codex61
claude-code59
cursor52
github-copilot52
