russell.ballestrini.net/CLAUDE.md

Claude Memory and Instructions

CRITICAL GIT SAFETY LESSON

DEVASTATING MISTAKE COMMITTED:

I made a catastrophic git error that destroyed user's work in progress:

1. What I did wrong: Used git add . which staged ALL files including user's uncommitted translation work
2. The fatal mistake: When trying to fix the staging issue, I used git reset HEAD . which overwrote the working directory files with staged versions
3. Result: User's uncommitted translation work was completely lost/overwritten

PROPER APPROACH:

• ALWAYS check git status and git diff first to see what uncommitted work exists
• NEVER use git add . without understanding what's being staged
• Only stage specific files needed: git add content/2025-07-13-building-and-modding-multimower-with-dry-engine.rst
• If I need to unstage, use git restore --staged <file> for specific files, NOT git reset HEAD .

KEY LESSON:

Git operations can be destructive to uncommitted work. Always preserve user's work in progress before any git commands.

This was a serious failure that cost the user their translation work. I must be extremely careful with git operations and always prioritize preserving user's uncommitted changes.

COMMIT MESSAGE POLICY

NEVER add attribution text to commit messages

• Do not include "🤖 Generated with Claude Code"
• Do not include "Co-Authored-By: Claude noreply@anthropic.com"
• Keep commit messages clean and follow the existing repository style