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spatie-version-control — Claude Code skill: Spatie's Git conventions

A skill that hands your agent Spatie's rules for commits, branches and pull requests. Useful once the agent starts committing and branching on its own.

Install into Claude Code · Skills CLI (Vercel) All methods and platforms ↓
npx skills add spatie/guidelines-skills --skill spatie-version-control -a claude-code
Open on GitHub

What spatie-version-control does

The skill wires Spatie's Git conventions into your agent. It activates when you create a commit, a branch or a pull request, name a new repository, or pick a branching and merging strategy. Code style, deployment pipelines and CI/CD sit outside its scope.

Inside is a single SKILL.md with a short rule summary plus a pointer to references/spatie-version-control-guidelines.md for the details. The agent first works out which Git operation is at hand, reads the matching section of the reference, then applies the project-stage rules before anything about branches, commits, merges or cleanup.

Site repositories get named after their lowercase naked domain, everything else uses kebab-case. Branch names take lowercase letters and hyphens only. Commits should be descriptive, present-tense and granular. The guidance leans on squash merges for feature branches, regular rebasing, and caution around history rewriting and destructive commands. If your team runs a different branching model, these rules will fight it, so check that before installing.

What it helps with

  • write a commit message in present tense that says something
  • decide between develop and a feature branch for the current stage
  • name a new repository after its domain or in kebab-case
  • clean up stale branches before a merge
  • choose squash or a plain merge for a feature branch

Example prompts for the agent

  • Commit these changes following Spatie conventions
  • Create a branch for this task — the project is already live
  • Prepare a pull request and tell me how to merge it

How to install spatie-version-control

1Skills CLI (Vercel)

npx skills add spatie/guidelines-skills --skill spatie-version-control -a claude-code

2Manually: put the files in place

~/.claude/skills/spatie-version-control/SKILL.md

Copy the whole skill folder; for one project use .claude/skills/spatie-version-control/

Step by step, with commands for each platform: How to install skills in Claude Code: five ways

Questions about spatie-version-control

How do I install spatie-version-control in Claude?

Run npx skills add spatie/guidelines-skills --skill spatie-version-control -a claude-code. The skill lands at ~/.claude/skills/spatie-version-control/SKILL.md.

What does spatie-version-control do?

It applies Spatie's Git conventions: repository and branch naming, commit messages, branching and merging strategies. It kicks in when you commit, branch or open a pull request.

What is out of scope for this skill?

Code style, deployment pipelines and CI/CD configuration. The skill covers Git operations, repository naming, branch naming, commit messages and merge strategies.

Source text

SKILL.md · MIT
---
name: spatie-version-control
description: Apply Spatie's version control conventions when creating commits, branches, pull requests, or managing Git repositories; use for naming repos, writing commit messages, choosing branch strategies, and merging code.
license: MIT
metadata:
  author: Spatie
---

# Spatie Version Control Guidelines

## Overview
Apply Spatie's Git and version control conventions for consistent repository management.

## When to Activate
- Activate this skill when creating commits, branches, or pull requests.
- Activate this skill when naming new repositories.
- Activate this skill when deciding on branching or merging strategies.

## Scope
- In scope: Git operations, repository naming, branch naming, commit messages, merge strategies.
- Out of scope: Code style, deployment pipelines, CI/CD configuration.

## Workflow
1. Identify the Git operation or repository convention involved.
2. Read `references/spatie-version-control-guidelines.md` and focus on the relevant sections.
3. Apply the project-stage rules before branch, commit, merge, or cleanup guidance.

## Core Rules (Summary)
- Name site repositories after their lowercase naked domain and other repositories with kebab-case.
- Keep `main` stable and deployable after launch, and remove stale branches.
- Use `develop` during initial development; use feature branches once a project is live.
- Use only lowercase letters and hyphens in branch names.
- Write descriptive, present-tense, granular commits.
- Rebase regularly and generally squash feature branches when merging.
- Treat history-rewriting and destructive Git commands with the cautions in the reference.

## References
- `references/spatie-version-control-guidelines.md`

© Spatie · MIT · spatie/guidelines-skills

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