history

Git History

Parent Skill: /git Path: /git/history

Purpose

Explore commit history, compare changes, perform code archaeology, and find when bugs were introduced. Master log viewing, diffs, blame, bisect, and history filtering.

When to Use

Trigger automatically when:

• User mentions: log, diff, show, blame, bisect, history, who changed, when was
• Investigating bugs
• Code review preparation
• Finding when changes were made
• Understanding code evolution

Chat commands:

/git/history show me recent commits
/git/history find when this bug was introduced
/git/history who changed this line
/git/history compare branches
/git/history search commit messages for "auth"

Requirements

Verification

# Check repository has commits
git log --oneline -5

# Check file history exists
git log -- path/to/file.js

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Critical Rules

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Patterns

Pattern 1: View Commit History

Problem: Understand what changes were made and when

# ❌ BAD: Default log is overwhelming
git log  # Shows full commit messages, can be thousands of lines

# ✅ GOOD: Concise, readable format
git log --oneline -10

# ✅ BETTER: Custom format with author and date
git log --oneline --graph --decorate --all -20

# ✅ BEST: Alias for common format
git config --global alias.lg "log --oneline --graph --decorate --all"
git lg -20

Pretty formatting:

# One line per commit
git log --oneline
# abc1234 feat: add user authentication
# def5678 fix: resolve login bug

# With graph (show branches)
git log --oneline --graph
# * abc1234 feat: add user auth
# * def5678 fix: resolve login bug
# |\
# | * ghi9012 feat: add dashboard
# |/
# * jkl3456 Initial commit

# Custom format
git log --pretty=format:"%h - %an, %ar : %s"
# abc1234 - John Doe, 2 hours ago : feat: add user auth

# With stats
git log --stat -3
# Shows files changed and line counts