Jujutsu Workflow
July 11, 2026 · View on GitHub
What this skill solves
Coding agents are unreliable Git operators: they fold unrelated edits into one commit, lose work to git reset / checkout / stash / bad rebases, leave unclear branch state, and claim "done" without showing version-control status. This skill teaches agents to use Jujutsu (jj) — a Git-compatible VCS (docs) — as the local change-management layer while keeping Git as the canonical collaboration, CI, PR, and audit interface.
- Safer, reversible edits via the
jjoperation log and undo instead of destructive Git recovery. - Cleaner patches — small, reviewable changes with unrelated edits split before handoff.
- A Git-visible PR handoff that humans and CI can inspect with ordinary Git tools.
Why jj beats pure Git for agentic coding (proven)
For speculative, iterative, multi-step agent work, jj is superior to pure Git — and this skill does not just assert it, it proves it with a runnable eval suite (tests/superiority_evals.sh, also run in CI) demonstrating four concrete wins:
- Reversible discards —
jj op restorerecovers abandoned work; git's discarded uncommitted edits are unrecoverable. - Conflicts don't block — a conflicting
jj rebasecompletes and records the conflict (andjj undoreverses it);git rebasehalts mid-operation. - Non-interactive history surgery —
jj split <path> -mcarves a commit in two without an editor; git needs interactiverebase -i. - Whole-repo time travel —
jj op restorerewinds many operations (commits + bookmarks) in one command; git has no single-command equivalent.
This skill claims the advantage here, proves it in the evals, and enforces it in SKILL.md (jj-first whenever a .jj/ repo is present). The mechanism-grounded decision guide — when jj helps, when it doesn't — is in why-jj-for-agents.md.
Use when
- A coding agent works in a repository where
jjis installed or allowed. - You use
jj/ Jujutsu, patch stacks, or speculative iterative edits. - You need to recover agent edits with
jj op log/jj undo/jj op restore. - You split agent-generated changes, hand off a PR from
jj, or update a PR after review comments. - You want to replace fragile
git reset/checkout/stash/rebaserecovery with reversiblejjoperations.
Expected outputs
- A local change described or committed with
jj, with unrelated edits split. - A Git-visible branch/bookmark pushed for PR creation, never targeting a protected branch.
- A final verification block reporting both
jjand Git state plus any tests or lints that were run.
Context requirements
- A Git-backed repository (colocated
jj/Git preferred), withjjinstalled locally. - Project governance is respected: branch protection, CODEOWNERS, commit conventions, signed commits, CI gates.
- External access: none beyond the Git remote (GitHub/GitLab) the project already uses.
Example prompts
"Use jj to make this change and prepare a clean PR branch without touching main."
"I made a mess with jj — undo my last operation and show me how to recover."
"Split these mixed edits into separate jj commits before we open the PR."
Related skills
git-workflow-skill— the canonical Git/PR/merge workflow this skill defers to for the remote contract.github-project-skill— branch protection, rulesets, and PR merge gates.
Installation
Marketplace (recommended)
Add the Netresearch marketplace once, then browse and install skills:
/plugin marketplace add netresearch/claude-code-marketplace
npx (skills.sh)
Install with any Agent Skills-compatible agent:
npx skills add https://github.com/netresearch/jujutsu-workflow-skill --skill jujutsu-workflow
Download release
Download the latest release and extract to your agent's skills directory.
Git clone
git clone https://github.com/netresearch/jujutsu-workflow-skill.git
Composer (PHP projects)
composer require netresearch/jujutsu-workflow-skill
Requires netresearch/composer-agent-skill-plugin.
npm (Node projects)
npm install --save-dev \
@netresearch/agent-skill-coordinator \
github:netresearch/jujutsu-workflow-skill
Requires @netresearch/agent-skill-coordinator, which discovers the skill in node_modules and registers it in AGENTS.md via a postinstall hook.
Contributing
Contributions welcome. Open PRs for feature improvements, bug fixes, and documentation updates. The product specification lives in docs/PRD.md.
License
Split licensing:
- Code (scripts, workflows, configs): MIT
- Content (skill definitions, documentation, references): CC-BY-SA-4.0
Developed and maintained by Netresearch DTT GmbH.
Made with ❤️ for Open Source by Netresearch