/workflow:preflight

Pre-work validation to prevent wasted effort from stale state, redundant work, or branch conflicts.

When to Use This Skill

Use this skill when... Skip when...

Starting work on a new issue or feature Quick single-file edit

Resuming work after a break Already verified state this session

Before spawning parallel agents Working in an isolated worktree

Before creating a branch for a PR Branch already created and verified

Context

• Repo: !git remote get-url origin

• Current branch: !git branch --show-current

• Remote tracking: !git branch -vv --format='%(refname:short) %(upstream:short) %(upstream:track)'

• Uncommitted changes: !git status --porcelain

• Stash count: !git stash list

Execution

Step 1: Fetch Latest Remote State

git fetch origin --prune 2>/dev/null

Step 2: Check for Existing Work

If an issue number was provided, check if it's already addressed:

Check if issue exists and its state

gh issue view $ISSUE --json number,title,state,labels 2>/dev/null

Check for PRs that reference this issue

gh pr list --search "fixes #$ISSUE OR closes #$ISSUE OR resolves #$ISSUE" --json number,title,state,headRefName 2>/dev/null

Check for branches that reference this issue

git branch -a --list "issue-$ISSUE" --list "fix/$ISSUE" --list "feat/$ISSUE" 2>/dev/null

If a merged PR exists: Report that the issue is already addressed. Stop. If an open PR exists: Report the PR and ask if the user wants to continue on that branch or start fresh.

Step 3: Verify Branch State

Check divergence from main/master

git log --oneline origin/main..HEAD 2>/dev/null || git log --oneline origin/master..HEAD 2>/dev/null

Check if main has moved ahead

git log --oneline HEAD..origin/main -5 2>/dev/null || git log --oneline HEAD..origin/master -5 2>/dev/null

Check for uncommitted changes

git status --porcelain=v2 --branch 2>/dev/null

Report:

• Commits ahead/behind remote

• Uncommitted changes that might interfere

• Whether a rebase is needed

Step 4: Check for Conflicts

Dry-run merge to detect conflicts (without actually merging)

git merge-tree $(git merge-base HEAD origin/main) HEAD origin/main 2>/dev/null | head -20

Step 5: Summary Report

Output a structured summary:

Check Status Detail

Remote state fresh/stale Last fetch time

Existing PRs none/open/merged PR numbers if any

Branch state clean/dirty/diverged Ahead/behind counts

Conflicts none/detected Conflicting files

Stash empty/N items Stash contents

Recommendations:

• If behind remote: "Rebase recommended before starting work"

• If existing PR found: "PR #N already addresses this - review before duplicating"

• If dirty state: "Commit or stash changes before branching"

• If conflicts detected: "Resolve conflicts with main before proceeding"

• If clean: "Ready to proceed"

Agentic Optimizations

Context Command

Quick remote sync git fetch origin --prune 2>/dev/null

Check existing PRs gh pr list --search "fixes #N" --json number,state,headRefName

Branch divergence git log --oneline origin/main..HEAD

Conflict detection git merge-tree $(git merge-base HEAD origin/main) HEAD origin/main

Compact status git status --porcelain=v2 --branch

Remote tracking git branch -vv --format='%(refname:short) %(upstream:track)'

Quick Reference

Flag Description

git fetch --prune

Fetch and remove stale remote refs

git status --porcelain=v2

Machine-parseable status

gh pr list --search

Search PRs by content

gh issue view --json

Structured issue data

git merge-tree

Dry-run merge conflict detection

git log A..B

Commits in B but not A