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name: scm description: Source code management workflow - nothing is ever lost

Source Code Management

jj workflow for preserving all work. Nothing is ever lost.

Core Principle

Every change is automatically tracked. In jj, working copy (@) is always a commit. No staging area. Every save is part of the current commit.

Rules

1. Commit after every testable change - After each TDD cycle, run jj commit -m "msg". Don't batch. Worktree gets squash-merged anyway.

2. Finalize before destructive ops - Before jj restore, jj abandon, or ending session: commit first.

3. Experiments: commit, try, backout - Commit the experiment, evaluate, then jj backout -r @- if discarding. History preserved.

4. Unknown changes: preserve first - Never jj restore unknown changes. Commit checkpoint, then investigate with jj diff -r @-.

5. Deleting code: commit, then delete - Checkpoint before removing so you can recover from history.

Why This Matters

• Recovery: Any past state is one jj edit away
• Confidence: Experiment freely knowing nothing is lost
• Squash merge: All commits collapse to one clean commit at release

Anti-patterns