Git Commit Push Pr

Git Commit, Push, and Pull Request

Purpose

Stage all changes, commit with a meaningful message, push to the remote, and create a GitHub pull request with a well-structured description. If a PR already exists for the current branch, it skips creation and outputs the existing PR URL.

Prerequisites

• Git repository with a GitHub remote configured
• gh CLI installed and authenticated (gh auth status)
• At least one prior commit on the default branch (main/master)
• Uncommitted changes in the working tree

When to Use This Skill

Use this skill when you need to:

• Commit all current changes and open a pull request in one step
• Push a feature branch and create a PR with a good description
• Ensure a PR exists for the current branch after making changes
• Quickly wrap up work and submit it for review

Customization Variables

No manual placeholders required. All values are auto-detected:

• Default branch: Detected via gh repo view --json defaultBranchRef
• Current branch: Detected via git branch --show-current
• Commit message: Generated from the staged diff summary
• PR title and body: Generated from the commit log and diff against the base branch

Steps

1. Detect the Default Branch

# Get the repository's default branch name (main, master, develop, etc.)
DEFAULT_BRANCH=$(gh repo view --json defaultBranchRef --jq '.defaultBranchRef.name')
echo "Default branch: $DEFAULT_BRANCH"

2. Check Current Branch and Create Feature Branch if Needed

CURRENT_BRANCH=$(git branch --show-current)
echo "Current branch: $CURRENT_BRANCH"

# If on the default branch, create a new feature branch
if [ "$CURRENT_BRANCH" = "$DEFAULT_BRANCH" ]; then
  # Derive a branch name from the changed files
  # Look at the diff stat to determine a descriptive name
  CHANGED_SUMMARY=$(git diff --stat --no-color | tail -1)
  CHANGED_DIRS=$(git diff --name-only | head -5 | xargs -I{} dirname {} | sort -u | head -1)

  # Generate a branch name based on the primary directory of changes
  # The agent should pick a meaningful name based on what the changes actually do
  BRANCH_NAME="feat/${CHANGED_DIRS//\//-}"
  # Clean up the branch name: lowercase, replace special chars
  BRANCH_NAME=$(echo "$BRANCH_NAME" | tr '[:upper:]' '[:lower:]' | sed 's/[^a-z0-9\/-]/-/g' | sed 's/--*/-/g' | sed 's/-$//')

  echo "Creating feature branch: $BRANCH_NAME"
  git checkout -b "$BRANCH_NAME"
  CURRENT_BRANCH="$BRANCH_NAME"
fi

3. Stage All Changes

# Stage all tracked and untracked changes
git add -A

# Verify there are changes to commit
if git diff --cached --quiet; then
  echo "ERROR: No changes to commit. Working tree is clean."
  exit 1
fi

# Show summary of staged changes
echo "Staged changes:"
git diff --cached --stat

4. Generate a Commit Message and Commit

# Analyze the staged changes to build a meaningful commit message
# The agent should examine the diff to determine:
# - Type prefix: feat, fix, docs, refactor, chore, test, style
# - Scope: primary area of change (optional)
# - Summary: concise description of what changed and why

# Review the diff for context
git diff --cached --stat
git diff --cached --name-only

# Commit with the generated message
# Example format: "feat(auth): add OAuth2 login flow"
# Example format: "fix: resolve null pointer in user lookup"
# Example format: "docs: update API reference for v2 endpoints"
git commit -m ""

5. Push to Remote

# Push the branch to origin, setting upstream tracking
git push -u origin "$CURRENT_BRANCH"

# Verify push succeeded
echo "Branch pushed: $CURRENT_BRANCH"

6. Check for Existing Pull Request

# Check if a PR already exists for this branch
EXISTING_PR=$(gh pr list --head "$CURRENT_BRANCH" --state open --json number,url --jq '.[0].url')

if [ -n "$EXISTING_PR" ]; then
  echo "PR already exists: $EXISTING_PR"
  echo "New commits have been pushed to the existing PR."
  # Stop here - no need to create a new PR
  exit 0
fi

echo "No existing PR found. Will create one."

7. Generate PR Description and Create Pull Request

# Gather information for the PR description
# - Commit log since diverging from the default branch
# - Diff stat against the default branch
# - File-level changes for context

COMMIT_LOG=$(git log "$DEFAULT_BRANCH"..HEAD --pretty=format:"- %s" --no-merges)
DIFF_STAT=$(git diff "$DEFAULT_BRANCH"...HEAD --stat)
CHANGED_FILES=$(git diff "$DEFAULT_BRANCH"...HEAD --name-only)

# The agent should analyze the above to produce a structured PR body:
#
# ## Summary
# 
#
# ## Changes
# 
#
# ## Notes
# 

# Create the PR with a descriptive title and body
# Title should match the primary commit message or summarize all changes
gh pr create \
  --base "$DEFAULT_BRANCH" \
  --title "" \
  --body "$(cat 

## Changes

## Notes

EOF
)"

# Output the new PR URL
gh pr view --json url --jq '.url'

Expected Results

After running all steps, you should have:

• ✓ All changes staged and committed with a meaningful commit message
• ✓ Branch pushed to the remote repository
• ✓ Pull request created (or existing PR identified) on GitHub
• ✓ PR has a structured description with Summary, Changes, and Notes sections
• ✓ PR URL displayed for easy access

Security Notes

• Authentication: The gh CLI must be authenticated. Run gh auth status to verify before starting.
• Sensitive files: Review staged changes before committing. Avoid committing files containing secrets (.env, credentials, API keys). The agent should warn if it detects potentially sensitive files.
• Force push: This skill never uses --force. It only performs safe, non-destructive git operations.
• Branch protection: If the default branch has protection rules, the PR will respect them. Direct pushes to the default branch are avoided.

Troubleshooting

gh CLI not authenticated

• Run gh auth login and follow the prompts
• Verify with gh auth status

No GitHub remote configured

• Ensure the repository has a GitHub remote: git remote -v
• Add one if missing: git remote add origin https://github.com//.git

Branch already exists on remote

• If git push fails because the remote branch exists with different history, investigate manually
• This skill does not force-push; resolve conflicts before retrying

PR creation fails due to branch protection

• Ensure your GitHub token has sufficient permissions
• Check repository settings for branch protection rules

Empty diff against default branch

• If the branch has already been merged or is up to date, there are no changes to PR
• Verify with git log main..HEAD that there are commits to include

References

• GitHub CLI Documentation: https://cli.github.com/manual/
• Git Documentation: https://git-scm.com/doc
• Conventional Commits: https://www.conventionalcommits.org/

Source & license

This open-source skill is cataloged on AgentStack and links to its original source — we do not rehost the code.

• Author: zheli
• Source: zheli/agent-skills
• License: MIT

Install and usage instructions live in the source repository linked above.