Branch Manager Plugin

The Branch Manager Plugin automates Git branch creation for GitHub issues, streamlining the workflow between issue tracking and development.

Purpose

This plugin helps developers:

• Create properly named Git branches for GitHub issues
• Follow consistent branch naming conventions
• Avoid common errors like duplicate branches
• Streamline the workflow when starting work on a new issue

Branch creation is initiated by the user, and the plugin handles the rest.

Features

The Branch Manager provides several key capabilities:

• Automated Branch Creation: Creates and pushes branches with proper naming conventions
• Issue Integration: Fetches issue details directly from GitHub
• Conflict Detection: Checks if branches already exist locally or remotely
• Similar Issue Detection: Prevents confusion between similar issue numbers (e.g., issue-34 vs issue-334)
• Error Handling: Provides informative output for troubleshooting

Branch Naming Convention

When creating branches, the plugin follows these rules:

• Starts with a lowercase category (feature, bug, docs, chore, etc.)
• Includes the issue number
• Adds a short, hyphen-separated summary derived from the issue title
• Replaces spaces with hyphens
• Uses all lowercase
• Supports both dash and slash separators (e.g., feature-65 or feature/65)

Example: feature/65-implement-vmpilot-prompts

Usage

Creating a Branch for an Issue

To create a branch for a GitHub issue, just ask VMPilot to use the Branch Manager Plugin to create the branch for the issue number you provide.

Workflow Integration

The Branch Manager Plugin integrates seamlessly with VMPilot's workflow:

1. Issue Assignment: A GitHub issue is assigned to you
2. Branch Creation: Use the plugin to create a properly named branch
3. Development: Make your changes on the new branch
4. Pull Request: Create a PR when your changes are ready for review

This workflow ensures that all code changes are properly tracked and linked to their corresponding issues.