Git Best Practices Skill

This skill provides comprehensive guidelines for proper git workflow management, with a focus on .gitignore setup and preventing accidental commits of unwanted files.

.gitignore Management

Critical: Always Check Before Initializing Package Managers

BEFORE initializing npm, pip, poetry, cargo, or any other package manager:

1. Check if .gitignore exists: Use ls -la .gitignore or check via file system
2. If .gitignore doesn't exist: Create it with appropriate patterns for your project type
3. If .gitignore exists: Verify it includes the necessary patterns for your package manager
4. After creating/updating .gitignore: Verify it's working with git status to ensure ignored files don't appear

Required Patterns by Project Type

Node.js / npm / yarn / pnpm