atomic-commits

Atomic Commits

Work in small, focused increments. Every commit should be atomic. Every PR should be reviewable in one sitting.

Atomic Commit Criteria

Every commit must:

1. Pass CI — tests, linter, build all green
2. Be deployable — application is in a valid state
3. Introduce no dead code — no unreachable code, unused imports, or half-wired features

One Commit, One Type of Work

• Refactor — restructure code without changing behavior
• Feature — the behavior change itself
• Cleanup — remove old code, update docs

If the commit message needs "and", split it.

PR Size

Target ~200 lines per PR. If larger, find a seam — ship refactor and feature as separate PRs, each independently mergeable and deployable.

Agent Behavior

1. Plan atomic steps before coding: refactors, then features, then cleanup.
2. Commit after each atomic step — don't accumulate.
3. Stage selectively (git add --patch or specific files).
4. When branch diff nears 200 lines, open a PR and continue in a follow-up.

Hook

This skill includes a PostToolUse hook (hooks/check-diff-size.sh) that monitors diff size after Edit/Write operations and nudges when it's time to commit or open a PR.