git-merge-linear

What problem does it solve?

Merging feature or task branches into main can often introduce messy merge commits, complicating the Git history and making debugging or future reverts harder. Ensuring a clean, linear history requires careful validation and specific Git commands that are easy to misuse. This Skill automates the process for a pristine main branch.

Core Features & Use Cases

• Pre-Merge Validation: Automatically verifies that the task branch is ready for merge (e.g., exactly one squashed commit, current branch is main), preventing common merge errors.
• Fast-Forward Merge: Executes a --ff-only merge to guarantee a linear history, preventing unnecessary merge commits and keeping the commit graph clean.
• Post-Merge Verification: Confirms that the history remains linear and that the correct commit has been added to main, ensuring the merge was successful and as intended.
• Use Case: After completing a feature on a task branch and squashing all commits into one, you need to merge it into main. This Skill ensures the merge is clean, linear, and validated, preventing accidental non-fast-forward merges or merging an un-squashed history, saving you from Git headaches.

Quick Start

From the 'main' branch, use the git-merge-linear skill to merge the 'implement-formatter-api' task branch.