CLI Tools Guide

Best practices for CLI tool usage in development workflows.

Purpose

Provide guidance on effective CLI tool usage for:

• Version control operations (git)
• GitHub interactions (gh)
• Package management (npm, yarn, pnpm)
• External code review (coderabbit)

Tool Categories

Category	Tools	Reference
Version Control	git	@./tools/git-essentials.md
GitHub	gh	@./tools/gh-github-cli.md
Package Management	npm, yarn, pnpm	@./tools/npm-scripts.md
Code Review	coderabbit	@./tools/coderabbit.md

Quick Reference

Git

Action	Command
Status	git status --short
Diff	git diff --staged
Branch	git branch --show-current
Log	git log --oneline -10
Commit (HEREDOC)	See below

HEREDOC Commit (avoids shell escaping issues):

git commit -m "$(cat <<'EOF'
feat(auth): add OAuth authentication

- Add Google OAuth provider
- Add session management
EOF
)"

GitHub CLI (gh)

Action	Command
Create PR	gh pr create --title "..." --body "..."
Create Issue	gh issue create --title "..." --body "..."
View PR	gh pr view [number]
PR Status	gh pr status
Check Runs	gh pr checks

npm/yarn/pnpm

Action	npm	yarn	pnpm
Install	npm install	yarn	pnpm install
Run script	npm run <script>	yarn <script>	pnpm <script>
Add dep	npm install <pkg>	yarn add <pkg>	pnpm add <pkg>
Dev dep	npm install -D <pkg>	yarn add -D <pkg>	pnpm add -D <pkg>

Best Practices

1. Atomic Commits

One logical change per commit:

# ❌ Bad: Multiple unrelated changes
git commit -m "fix bug and add feature and update docs"

# ✅ Good: One change at a time
git commit -m "fix(auth): resolve token refresh issue"
git commit -m "feat(user): add profile settings page"

2. Conventional Commits

Format: type(scope): description

Type	Purpose
feat	New feature
fix	Bug fix
docs	Documentation
refactor	Code restructuring
test	Test changes
chore	Build/tooling

3. Safety First

Never run without confirmation:

• git push --force (use --force-with-lease instead)
• git reset --hard
• rm -rf (use mv ~/.Trash/ instead)

References

Principles (rules/)

• @~/.claude/rules/core/AI_OPERATION_PRINCIPLES.md - Safety first operations

Related Skills

• tdd-fundamentals - TDD with CLI test runners
• creating-hooks - Git hooks configuration

Used by Commands

• /commit - Generate Conventional Commits format
• /pr - Create PR and push
• /branch - Suggest branch names
• /issue - Create GitHub issues
• /rabbit - CodeRabbit AI review