58 lines
2.8 KiB
Markdown
58 lines
2.8 KiB
Markdown
# Playbook 07 — Feature branches across repos
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**Trigger.** Work that changes code — in one code repo or in several at once (`mesh-sdk`,
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`mesh-control`, `mesh-catalog`, `mesh-host`, `mesh-lab`, and `hq` when a decision rides along).
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**Who runs it.** Anyone who writes code, engineers and agents alike. Agents follow it exactly —
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it is the guard against the failure it was written for.
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## The failure it prevents
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A feature was worked as a branch-and-MR per *unit of thought* — one per decision, one per
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stacked increment — and each MR was treated as finished when it was *opened*, not when it was
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*merged*. Across repos the same feature took a different branch name in each. The MRs piled up
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unmerged: one session left **sixteen** stacked intermediate MRs that had to be consolidated and
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closed by hand. An MR is a review checkpoint, not a scratchpad.
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## The rule
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One feature is **one branch name**, **one worktree per repo**, **one MR per repo**, opened
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**once, at the end**.
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1. **Name the feature once.** `feat/<slug>`. The *same* branch name in every repo the feature
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touches — never a different name per repo, never a fresh branch per increment within the
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feature.
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2. **Isolate each repo.** One git worktree per touched repo under `.work/<slug>/<repo>`, branched
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off `main`:
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```
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git worktree add .work/<slug>/<repo> -b feat/<slug> origin/main
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```
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Parallel features never collide, and no shared checkout is edited.
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3. **Commit as you go — locally.** Increments land on the one branch. Nothing is pushed and no
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MR is opened mid-feature.
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4. **Finish, then publish.** When the whole feature is done — every repo, tests green — push
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every branch and open **one MR per touched repo**, together.
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5. **Merge promptly, once approved.** Every merge into `main` is notified and approved
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([ADR 0023](../../02-DECISIONS/0023-approval-is-the-checkpoint.md)); once it is, merge —
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do not leave it sitting. The branch is deleted on merge.
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6. **Leave nothing behind.** After the MRs merge, no `feat/<slug>` branch and no `.work/<slug>`
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worktree survive.
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## What this is not
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- **Not a licence to batch unbounded work.** A feature is a *bounded* unit; if it sprawls for
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days, end-of-feature bloat merely replaces per-increment bloat. Split it into features, each
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its own branch and MR.
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- **Not a second trunk.** Every repo branches off `main`. There is no longer an `initialization`
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trunk.
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## How it is checked
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The end state is visible, and its absence is the smell:
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- After a feature merges, `git branch -r | grep feat/<slug>` and `git worktree list` return
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nothing for it. A surviving branch or worktree means step 6 was skipped.
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- More than one open MR in a repo that share no feature name, or a stack of MRs none of which is
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merged, is the failure this playbook exists to prevent — stop and consolidate before opening
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more.
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