/workflow:preflight

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

When to Use This Skill

Context

• Repo: !gh repo view --json nameWithOwner -q .nameWithOwner 2>/dev/null
• Current branch: !git branch --show-current 2>/dev/null
• Remote tracking: !git branch -vv --format='%(refname:short) %(upstream:short) %(upstream:track)' 2>/dev/null
• Uncommitted changes: !git status --porcelain 2>/dev/null
• Stash count: !git stash list 2>/dev/null | wc -l

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:

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

Quick Reference