DesktopGo: Skill for Codex

Task Branch Lifecycle

Use this skill only when explicitly invoked as $task-branch-lifecycle (or selected from the skill picker). It manages a temporary branch in the current checkout; it does not create a Git worktree and it never pushes to a remote.

Phase Detection

Determine the phase from the current conversation and Git state:

• Start: no active task branch has been recorded for this task.
• Review waiting: implementation is complete and the user has not explicitly approved cleanup.
• Cleanup: the user explicitly says the review passed and asks to finish, clean up, return, or remove the task branch.
• If the user requests changes during review, remain on the task branch and return to implementation. Do not clean up.

Keep these values in the conversation and report them at phase boundaries:

• original branch
• temporary task branch
• whether changes are committed or uncommitted
• validation commands and results

If the conversation is resumed without this state, inspect Git and ask before deleting or switching anything. Never infer the original branch from guesswork.

Start Phase

1. Inspect the repository before changing branches:

   git rev-parse --show-toplevel
   git branch --show-current
   git status --short
   git diff --check
   

2. Stop and ask the user to commit or stash existing changes if the working tree is dirty, if the current HEAD is detached, or if Git reports an in-progress merge, rebase, cherry-pick, or revert. Do not auto-stash, reset, clean, or discard changes.

3. Record the current branch as original_branch. Derive a short, lowercase, hyphenated task slug and create a local-only branch using the project-safe codex/ prefix:

   git switch -c codex/<kind>-<slug>
   

   Use feat for additions, fix for bug fixes, and change or refactor for modifications. If the branch already exists locally or remotely, choose a different slug; never reset or reuse it silently.

4. Implement the requested task on the temporary branch. Follow the repository's other applicable skills, especially modularity, testing, and validation guidance. Keep unrelated changes out of the branch.