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Knowledge > Runbooks > Agent Ops > Git Safety Rules for Multi-Agent Workflows

Git Safety Rules for Multi-Agent Workflows

Multiple Claude agents may be working concurrently across sessions. Follow these rules to prevent one agent's work from destroying another's.

The Core Rules​

  1. Always create your own branch — never work directly on main or master
  2. Never reuse another agent's branch — if you're on someone else's branch, create a new one
  3. Never git push --force — this destroys other agents' pushed commits
  4. Always rebase before pushing — prevents conflicts on the deploy branch
  5. If a conflict resolution is unclear, ask the founder before pushing

Branch Naming​

Use the pattern feat/short-description or fix/short-description:

feat/chatbot-fallback-llm
feat/pewsearch-premium-pages-redesign
fix/stripe-webhook-trial-end
chore/update-product-knowledge-pricing

Deploy Branches by Codebase​

CodebaseDeploy Branch
churchwiseai-web/main
pewsearch/web/master
sermon-illustrations/master

Step-by-Step: Starting Work​

  1. Check out and update the deploy branch

    # For churchwiseai-web
    cd /c/dev/churchwiseai-web
    git checkout main
    git pull origin main

    # For pewsearch or sermon-illustrations
    cd /c/dev/pewsearch/web
    git checkout master
    git pull origin master

  2. Create your own feature branch

    git checkout -b feat/my-task-description

  3. Confirm you're on your new branch before making any changes

    git branch --show-current
    # Should show: feat/my-task-description

During Work: Committing​

Commit frequently with clear messages:

git add src/app/api/chatbot/stream/route.ts
git commit -m "feat: add fallback to GPT-4o-mini when Haiku unavailable"

Use the /commit skill for structured commit messages that follow the portfolio conventions.

Finishing Work: Merging and Pushing​

  1. Fetch and rebase before pushing

    git fetch origin
    git rebase origin/main  # or origin/master

  2. Resolve any conflicts, then continue the rebase:

    # After resolving each conflicted file:
    git add [conflicted-file]
    git rebase --continue

    If the conflict is in a file you don't fully understand, STOP and ask the founder. Do not guess at conflict resolution in business-logic files.

  3. Push your feature branch

    git push origin feat/my-task-description

  4. Merge to the deploy branch

    git checkout main
    git pull origin main
    git merge feat/my-task-description
    git push origin main

    Or create a PR via gh:

    gh pr create --title "feat: my task description" --base main

  5. Delete your feature branch after merging

    git branch -d feat/my-task-description
    git push origin --delete feat/my-task-description

Checking What Other Agents Have Done​

Before starting work, check what branches currently exist on the remote:

git fetch origin
git branch -r

If you see a branch like feat/chatbot-redesign that is close to your task, check with the founder whether that work is complete or in progress before creating overlapping work.

Emergency: I Pushed to main/master Directly​

If you accidentally pushed to the deploy branch without going through a feature branch:

  1. Do NOT git push --force to undo it
  2. Check what you pushed: git log origin/main -5
  3. If it is safe (correct, no conflicts), leave it and note it in DECISION_LOG.md
  4. If it is wrong, create a new commit that reverts the change: git revert [commit-hash]

What NOT to Do​

# NEVER
git push --force
git push --force-with-lease   # still potentially destructive in multi-agent context
git push origin main           # without first fetching and rebasing
git checkout main && git merge  # without confirming the deploy branch is current

Verification​

  • git log origin/main -5 shows your commit at the top with the correct message
  • The deployed site reflects your changes (after Vercel auto-deploys from the push)
  • No other agent's work has been overwritten (compare branch history if uncertain)

See Also​