branch-namer

What This Skill Does

The branch-namer skill acts as an intelligent assistant for version control hygiene. It automatically generates standardized, descriptive git branch names based on natural language task descriptions. By leveraging AI to interpret user intent, the skill determines whether a task falls under categories like feature, bugfix, or chore, and formats the output into clean, kebab-case strings that adhere to common industry standards. Beyond just string suggestion, it offers automation capabilities, allowing users to create branches directly via command-line integration, ensuring that branch naming conventions are strictly enforced without manual overhead.

Installation

To integrate this tool into your OpenClaw environment, use the provided clawhub command to install the package from the official source repository. Run the following command in your terminal:

clawhub install openclaw/skills/skills/lxgicstudios/ai-branch

Ensure that you have Node.js 18+ installed on your system. Furthermore, because this skill utilizes AI models to parse descriptions, you must have an active OpenAI API key. Configure it by running export OPENAI_API_KEY=sk-... in your shell session before executing the tool for the first time.

Use Cases

• Streamlining Onboarding: New developers who are unfamiliar with a project's specific branching nomenclature can use the tool to maintain consistency with the existing team codebase.
• Reducing Cognitive Load: When juggling complex tasks, developers often struggle to name branches concisely; this skill removes that friction, allowing developers to focus on the code rather than the syntax.
• Enforcing Git Standards: Organizations looking to automate documentation and repository maintenance can use this tool to ensure every branch created follows a unified, programmatic format, which simplifies later stages of CI/CD pipeline management.

Example Prompts

1. "I need a branch for a new login screen that uses OAuth; please generate a name and create it for me."
2. "Create a branch for a bug fix where the user avatar fails to load in the header, and tag it with the ticket number PROJ-402."
3. "Suggest a branch name for a chore task that updates our internal testing dependency versions."

Tips & Limitations

To maximize the effectiveness of the branch-namer, provide as much context as possible in your initial prompt. Vague inputs like "fix error" result in non-descriptive names; instead, provide specific details like "fix memory leak in image processing service." Always review suggested names before utilizing the --create flag to prevent creating extraneous branches in shared environments. Finally, note that while the tool is excellent for standardizing names, it cannot verify if the branch name is already taken, so a quick check of your current git status is recommended before execution.