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AI Power User Course

Git Workflow with AI

Git is one of the areas where Claude Code shines brightest. Claude understands git deeply and can handle everything from simple commits to complex rebases.

Daily Git Operations

Section titled “Daily Git Operations”

Smart Commits

Section titled “Smart Commits”

Instead of writing commit messages manually:

> /commit

Claude analyzes your changes, understands the intent, and writes a meaningful message. It matches your project’s existing commit style.

Branch Management

Section titled “Branch Management”
> Create a new branch for adding user authentication

Claude will create a descriptively named branch:

Terminal window
git checkout -b feature/add-user-authentication

Understanding Changes

Section titled “Understanding Changes”
> What changed since the last release tag?

Claude runs git log, git diff, and summarizes the changes in plain language.

Code Review Workflow

Section titled “Code Review Workflow”

Before Opening a PR

Section titled “Before Opening a PR”
> Review all changes on this branch compared to main.
> Focus on security issues and potential bugs.

Claude will:

  1. Run git diff main...HEAD
  2. Analyze every change
  3. Flag potential issues

After Receiving Review Comments

Section titled “After Receiving Review Comments”
> Read the PR comments on PR #42 and address them

Claude fetches comments via gh, understands the feedback, and makes the requested changes.

Handling Merge Conflicts

Section titled “Handling Merge Conflicts”
> I have merge conflicts after rebasing on main. Help me resolve them.

Claude will:

  1. Check which files have conflicts
  2. Read the conflicting sections
  3. Understand the intent of both sides
  4. Resolve conflicts intelligently (not just picking one side)

Git History Exploration

Section titled “Git History Exploration”
> When was the authentication system last modified and by whom?
> Show me how the database schema has evolved over the last 10 commits
> Find the commit that introduced the rate limiting bug

Claude uses git log, git blame, and git bisect concepts to track down answers.

Best Practices

Section titled “Best Practices”
  1. Let Claude see the full diff before committing — it writes better messages
  2. Use branches — Claude is great at managing feature branches
  3. Review Claude’s commits — check the diff before pushing
  4. Don’t force-push without understanding — Claude will warn you about destructive operations
  5. Use conventional commits — document the format in CLAUDE.md and Claude will follow it

Exercise

Section titled “Exercise”
  1. Make some changes to a project
  2. Use /commit to create a commit
  3. Create a feature branch and make more changes
  4. Ask Claude to summarize the branch’s changes compared to main
  5. Practice resolving a merge conflict with Claude’s help