Skip to content
unbranchunbranchunbranch docs

Keeping a repository in step

The developer kit connects a repository to the project it builds. These habits keep the two in step without slowing anyone down.

Commit the binding

Section titled “Commit the binding”

Commit .unbranch.json, .mcp.json and .claude/settings.json. A teammate who clones the repository is bound to the same project with nothing to set up. The files hold no credentials, so each person still signs in through their own client.

Keep your docs layered

Section titled “Keep your docs layered”

The kit compares your docs with the model, not your source code. It works best with:

  • docs/features/: one document per feature, describing what it does from the product’s side.
  • SNAPSHOT.md: the cumulative picture of what exists now.
  • BACKLOG.md: what was agreed and is not scheduled yet.

Those files already describe the code at the level unbranch models, which is why the comparison is meaningful.

Section titled “Link features to capabilities”

Run /unbranch:link once, and again when you add a feature document. It proposes which capability each document builds and writes a line in its front matter after you confirm. It also records which part of the product this repository builds, so a service repository is compared only with its own part of the model.

Ask where the work stands

Section titled “Ask where the work stands”

/unbranch:progress answers by agreed capability: built, in progress, parked, not started, under discussion, and work that no agreed capability covers. That last group is the useful one. It is either a decision that never went through the team, or a document that needs linking.

Start the day with status

Section titled “Start the day with status”

/unbranch:status lists the proposals waiting for your answer and the work being delivered.

When the work has no agreed home

Section titled “When the work has no agreed home”

If you are building something no agreed capability covers, do not settle it inside your coding session. Raise it as a proposal, through your agent or the portal, so the team decides. The kit reports drift; it never steers your agent or blocks your work.