The finish process should essentially run the rebase command first, THEN proceed with validation

[acreeger]

Current it validates, commits, rebase, merge

But, it should rebase (using the same WIP commit technique as the rebase command), then validate, then commit, then merge

[acreeger]

Enhancement Request Analysis

Questions for Reporter

Question	Answer
Should validation run both before AND after rebase, or only after?	Only after rebase - validate once after rebasing to catch integration issues
What happens to the WIP commit if validation fails after rebase?	WIP commit is automatically soft reset - this is already implemented in the rebase functionality
What does validation include?	Already implemented - no changes needed to validation scope

Problem Summary
The il finish command validates changes before rebasing, which can result in successfully validated code that breaks after the rebase step introduces conflicts or incompatibilities with the target branch.

User Impact
Developers using il finish may encounter a scenario where their work passes validation in isolation but fails after being rebased onto the latest parent branch, requiring manual intervention and rework.

Enhancement Goal
Reorder the il finish workflow to:

1. Rebase first (using existing WIP commit technique from rebase command)
2. Validate the rebased changes
3. Commit
4. Merge

This ensures validation happens against the actual state of code that will be merged.

Key Clarifications

• Validation runs only after rebase, not before
• WIP commit handling is already implemented in rebase functionality - no new work needed
• Validation scope is already implemented - just needs to be moved in the workflow order

Next Steps

• Technical analysis to review current finish command implementation
• Implementation planning to reorder workflow steps

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📋 Complete Context & Details (click to expand)

Current Workflow Order

1. Validate changes
2. Commit changes
3. Rebase onto parent branch
4. Merge

Desired Workflow Order

1. Rebase onto parent branch (using existing WIP commit technique)
2. Validate changes (now against rebased state)
3. Commit changes
4. Merge

Additional Context

• The rebase command already has WIP commit handling that automatically soft resets
• No changes needed to validation logic itself, just the order of operations
• This change would make the finish process more robust by catching integration issues before final commit

[acreeger]

Complexity Assessment

Classification: TRIVIAL

Metrics:

• Estimated files affected: 1
• Estimated lines of code: 50-75
• Breaking changes: No
• Database migrations: No
• Cross-cutting changes: No
• File architecture quality: Good - well-structured method, clear separation of concerns
• Overall risk level: Low

Reasoning: This is a pure workflow reordering within the executeIssueWorkflow method. The rebase step (lines 693-707) needs to be moved before the validation step (lines 598-618). No new functionality, no breaking changes, and minimal code movement with no interdependencies. All involved steps already exist and work independently. The file is 1,371 lines but changes are isolated to a single method affecting fewer than 75 LOC. Low risk: reordering well-established steps that are already decoupled and tested separately.

[acreeger]

Implementation Complete - Issue #344

Summary

Reordered the finish command workflow from "validate -> commit -> rebase -> merge" to "rebase -> validate -> commit -> merge". This ensures validation runs against rebased code with the latest main branch changes integrated.

Changes Made

• src/commands/finish.ts: Moved rebase step to execute first in executeIssueWorkflow, before validation
• src/commands/finish.test.ts: Updated 2 tests to reflect new workflow order

Validation Results

• Tests: 2973 passed, 1 skipped
• Typecheck: Passed
• Lint: Passed

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Detailed Changes by File (click to expand)

Files Modified

src/commands/finish.ts

Changes: Reordered workflow steps in executeIssueWorkflow method

• Moved rebase block (formerly lines 693-707) to be Step 1 (now lines 598-613)
• Renumbered remaining steps accordingly
• Updated doc comment to reflect new order: "rebase -> validate -> commit -> merge -> cleanup"

src/commands/finish.test.ts

Changes: Updated 2 tests to match new workflow order

• should execute complete workflow including merge steps: Changed expected order from ['validation', 'detectChanges', 'rebase', 'merge'] to ['rebase', 'validation', 'detectChanges', 'merge']
• should throw error when Linear provider is used with github-pr merge mode: Updated assertion to expect rebaseOnMain to be called (since rebase now runs before the merge mode check that throws the error)

[acreeger]

iloom Session Summary

Key Themes:

• Implemented workflow reordering for issue The finish process should essentially run the rebase command first, THEN proceed with validation #344: rebase now runs before validation in the finish command
• Discovered and fixed pre-commit hooks blocking rebase operations by adding --no-verify and -c core.hooksPath=/dev/null
• Classification as TRIVIAL proved accurate: pure code reordering with minimal test updates

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Session Details (click to expand)

Key Insights

• The finish command's validation-first approach could pass code that would fail after rebase due to integration conflicts
• Pre-commit hooks run in two places during rebase: (1) when creating WIP commits, and (2) when git re-applies commits during the rebase operation itself
• WIP commit functionality was already robust - it handles uncommitted changes by creating temporary commits with soft reset cleanup
• Test architecture in MergeManager was well-designed: only needed to update expected command arrays, not test logic

Decisions Made

• Disable hooks during rebase: Used -c core.hooksPath=/dev/null for the rebase command and --no-verify for WIP commits. This prevents pre-commit hooks from interfering with internal rebase operations while keeping user-facing commits (from validation/finish) subject to normal hooks.
• Skip separate analysis/planning phases: Accepted TRIVIAL classification and proceeded directly to implementation since the change was straightforward code reordering
• Two-point hook prevention: Applied --no-verify to both WIP commit creation and the rebase command itself to ensure no hook interference at any stage

Challenges Resolved

• Initial problem: User reported tests failing during rebase because pre-commit hooks were running
• Root cause: Git runs hooks when re-applying commits during rebase, and when creating WIP commits
• Solution: Added hook-disabling flags at both points - --no-verify for WIP commits (line 352) and -c core.hooksPath=/dev/null for rebase command (line 130)
• Test updates: Required updating all MergeManager test assertions to expect the new command formats with hook-disabling flags

Lessons Learned

• When implementing workflow changes that involve git operations, consider hook interactions early
• The WIP commit technique is an internal implementation detail that should bypass user-configured hooks
• Testing with actual git hooks would have caught this issue earlier in development
• The -c core.hooksPath=/dev/null approach is more robust than HUSKY=0 as it works regardless of hook manager