check-git-log-before-refix

Check git log before re-fixing

When to use

The user reports an error that looks identical to something you (or another agent) recently fixed. Typical signals:

• The same error message you just worked on yesterday.
• The user says "it still fails" after you thought you landed a fix.
• You're on a feature branch that was cut before the fix merged.
• A teammate / another agent has been editing the same repo in parallel.

Before you write a single new line of code, stop and check whether the fix is already on the default branch and you just aren't looking at it.

Problem

Agents — and humans in a hurry — default to "I see an error, I write a patch." When the fix already exists on main/master but you're on a stale branch or a dirty working tree, that default makes things worse:

• You re-invent a worse version of the existing fix.
• You layer a wrong patch on top of a right one that's hidden by an uncommitted edit or an un-pulled commit.
• You open a PR that either duplicates an already-merged PR or, more embarrassingly, conflicts with it.

The concrete failure mode that motivated this skill:

1. PR-A lands a correct fix for error E on main.
2. An agent is still checked out on a feature branch cut before PR-A.
3. User re-runs the scenario, still sees E (because the feature branch predates the fix).
4. Agent "diagnoses" E again, invents a new — and wrong — patch, and sometimes even leaves it as uncommitted changes that silently revert the real fix on the next merge.

Solution

Before modifying anything, run this short check:

1. Check working tree and branch first.

   git status
   git branch --show-current
   git log --oneline -5
   

   If there are uncommitted changes in the file that "still has the bug", that is a huge red flag — previous agent output may have reverted a real fix locally.

2. Grep the history for the symptom. Use a keyword from the error message or the affected file:

   git log --oneline --all --grep="AutomationCommandlet"
   git log --oneline --all -- path/to/affected_file