work-unit-commits

When to Use

Load this skill when deciding what belongs in each commit or PR.

Use it for:

• Splitting a feature into reviewable work.
• Preparing commits before opening a PR.
• Turning a large change into chained or stacked PRs.
• Keeping reviewer cognitive load healthy.
• Closing an ODD task with a work-unit commit.

Critical Rules

Rule	Requirement
Commit by work unit	A commit represents a deliverable behavior, fix, migration, or docs unit.
Do not commit by file type	Avoid models, then services, then tests if none works alone.
Keep tests with code	Tests belong in the same commit as the behavior they verify.
Keep docs with the user-visible change	Docs belong with the feature or workflow they explain.
Tell a story	A reviewer should understand why each commit exists from its diff and message.
Future PR-ready	Each commit should be a candidate chained PR when the change grows.
Budget is not code-golf	Never shrink a diff by deleting comments, blank lines, docs, or tests, or by compressing code, to fit the review budget (400 by default, or the session review_budget_lines). Slice by work unit or report the overage.

Work Unit Checklist

Before committing, confirm:

• The commit has one clear purpose.
• The repo still makes sense after applying only this commit.
• Tests or docs for this unit are included when relevant.
• Rollback is reasonable without reverting unrelated work.
• Focused test command and exact result are recorded.
• Runtime harness command/scenario and exact result are recorded, or explicit N/A explains why no runtime boundary exists.
• Rollback boundary names the exact files/behavior removable without unrelated work.
• The commit message explains the outcome, not the file list.

Split Examples

Weak split	Better work-unit split
add models	feat(auth): add token validation domain model and tests
add services	feat(auth): wire token validation into login flow
add tests	Tests included with each behavior commit
update docs	Docs included with the user-facing change they explain

PR Relationship

Use work-unit commits as the foundation for chained PRs:

1. Build the smallest independent work unit.
2. Include verification for that unit.
3. Commit it with a Conventional Commit message.
4. If the PR approaches 400 changed lines, promote commits or groups of commits into chained PRs.

ODD Relationship

Organic Driven Development (ODD) closes every substantial task with a work-unit commit on the feature branch:

• Every ODD task closes with at least one work-unit commit, branch first when on the default branch, with tests and docs alongside the behavior and a Conventional Commit message.
• The native review candidate is that commit, or the PR slice it belongs to when review is deferred, against the previous reviewed boundary. It is never a TODO checkbox and never the accumulated feature branch.
• The running authored line count from work-unit commits feeds the delivery-strategy vocabulary: ask-on-risk, auto-chain, single-pr, exception-ok.
• The ODD feature document records the commit identity as evidence and, once a delivery strategy applies, the chosen chain strategy and slice boundaries (which commits each PR holds).

Commands

# Review the story before committing
git diff --stat
git diff --cached --stat

# Check recent commit style
git log --oneline -5