skillmd.
Toolinglibrary

create-branch

Create a git branch following Sentry naming conventions. Use when asked to "create a branch", "new branch", "start a branch", "make a branch", "switch to a new branch", or when starting new work on the default branch.

getsentry/skillsdevelop.sentry.dev
View source

Install

npx skills add https://github.com/getsentry/skills --skill create-branch

Use with your agent

ClaudeCursorOpenAIGemini

Install the create-branch skill, then use it as build context. Run: npx skills add https://github.com/getsentry/skills --skill create-branch. Then read the installed skill.md and follow its guidance to build or refactor my project.

Create Branch

Create a git branch following Sentry naming conventions. Keep this workflow non-interactive unless the user explicitly asks to choose the name manually.

Workflow

  1. Resolve the prefix:

    • First try gh api user --jq .login
    • Then git config github.user
    • Then the local part of git config user.email
    • Then whoami
    • Sanitize to lowercase ASCII letters, digits, and hyphens; if empty, use local

  2. Resolve the work description:

    • If $ARGUMENTS is present, use it
    • Otherwise inspect: 
      git diff
git diff --cached
git status --short
    • If there are local changes, derive a short description from the diff
    • If there are no local changes, use a generic description like repo-maintenance, tooling-update, or work-in-progress

  3. Classify the branch type:

TypeUse when
featNew functionality
fixBroken behavior now works
refBehavior stays the same, structure changes
choreMaintenance of existing tooling/config
perfSame behavior, faster
styleVisual or formatting only
docsDocumentation only
testTests only
ciCI/CD config
buildBuild system
metaRepo metadata
licenseLicense changes

When unsure: use feat for new things, ref for restructuring, chore for maintenance.

  1. Generate <prefix>/<type>/<short-description>. Keep <short-description> kebab-case, ASCII-only, and ideally 3 to 6 words.

  2. Choose the base without prompting:

    git branch --show-current
git remote | grep -qx origin && echo origin || git remote | head -1
git symbolic-ref refs/remotes/<remote>/HEAD 2>/dev/null | sed 's|refs/remotes/<remote>/||' | tr -d '[:space:]'
    • If default branch detection fails, fall back to main, then master, then the current branch
    • If on a detached HEAD, branch from the current commit
    • If already on a non-default branch, branch from the current branch
    • Only switch to the default branch when the user explicitly asks

  3. Avoid collisions by appending -2, -3, and so on until the name is unused locally and remotely.

  4. Create the branch:

    git checkout -b <branch-name>

    Report the final branch name, but do not stop for confirmation.

References