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analyzing-git-sessions

Analyzes git commits and changes within a timeframe or commit range, providing structured summaries

by bitwarden|Open Source

Analyzing Git Sessions

Analyzes git commits and changes within a timeframe or commit range, providing structured summaries for various use cases.

What It Does

This skill analyzes git repository activity and produces structured summaries including:

  • Commit history with messages and authors
  • File change statistics (additions, deletions, modifications)
  • Identification of key files by change magnitude
  • Optional code diffs for review
  • Multiple output formats for different use cases

When to Use

Use this skill when you need to:

  • Review your work: "What did I accomplish in the last 2 hours?"
  • Prepare code reviews: Generate PR descriptions and identify review focus areas
  • Write standups: "What did I work on yesterday?"
  • Document sessions: Capture work done during a coding session
  • Analyze branches: "What changes are in my feature branch?"
  • Track activity: Weekly or monthly contribution summaries

How to Use

Natural Language Invocations

Time-based analysis:

  • "Analyze my git changes from the last 2 hours"
  • "Show me what I committed today"
  • "Summarize my work since 10am"
  • "What changed in the last hour?"

Commit range analysis:

  • "Show me changes between abc123 and def456"
  • "Analyze commits from HEAD~5 to HEAD"
  • "Compare feature-branch to main"

With specific focus:

  • "Show me authentication module changes from today"
  • "What test files did I modify this week?"
  • "Analyze changes in the app directory since yesterday"

Output format requests:

  • "Generate a code review summary for my last 3 commits"
  • "Give me a concise summary of today's work"
  • "Show detailed diffs for my morning commits"

Direct Skill Invocation

/skill analyzing-git-sessions

The skill will prompt you for:

  1. Time range or commit range
  2. Optional path filters
  3. Desired output depth (concise/detailed/code review)

Output Formats

1. Concise Summary (Default)

Best for: Quick overview, standup reports, work logs

Includes:

  • Commit count and authors
  • Files changed summary (added/modified/deleted)
  • Net line changes
  • Top 5-10 files by change size
  • Commit messages

Example:

Git Session Summary
Range: 2 hours ago to now
Commits: 8
Files Changed: 12 modified, 2 added
Net Changes: +340 -120 lines

Top Files:
1. AuthViewModel.kt (+85 -30)
2. LoginScreen.kt (+60 -15)
...

2. Detailed Summary

Best for: Session documentation, deeper review

Includes everything from Concise, plus:

  • Full file list with statistics
  • Author breakdown
  • Diffs for top 3-5 files
  • File categorization (source, test, config)

3. Code Review Format

Best for: PR preparation, team reviews

Includes:

  • Suggested PR title (from commits)
  • Changes grouped by module/directory
  • Scope summary
  • Test coverage assessment
  • Formatted commits suitable for PR description
  • Key diffs organized by module

Configuration Options

Output Depth

Control level of detail:

  • Concise: Stats and commit list only (~500-1000 tokens)
  • Detailed: Stats + top file diffs (~2000-5000 tokens)
  • Code Review: Comprehensive with module grouping (~3000-8000 tokens)

The skill automatically suggests appropriate depth based on session size.

Path Filters

Narrow analysis to specific paths:

  • "Analyze changes in app/src/main/kotlin/auth/"
  • "Show only test file changes"
  • "Focus on gradle files"

Author Filters

For multi-contributor analysis:

  • "Show only my commits from today"
  • "What did the team change this week?"

Use Cases

1. Daily Standup Preparation

Request: "Summarize my git changes from yesterday"

Result: Concise list of commits and key files for standup discussion

2. Code Review Preparation

Request: "Generate code review summary for feature-auth-biometrics branch"

Result: PR-ready description with:

  • What changed and why
  • Files organized by module
  • Test coverage notes
  • Suggested review focus areas

3. Session Documentation

Request: "Detailed analysis of my work in the last 3 hours"

Result: Comprehensive summary for retrospective or work log:

  • What was accomplished
  • Which files were touched
  • Magnitude of changes
  • Key code diffs

4. Weekly Activity Summary

Request: "Show me all my commits from the last 7 days"

Result: Week-at-a-glance view of your contributions

5. Branch Comparison

Request: "Compare feature-branch to main"

Result: What's in the feature branch that's not in main

  • Commits to be merged
  • Files that will change
  • Potential conflicts

6. Retrospective Git Data

Request: (Called by retrospecting skill during analysis)

Result: Git metrics for retrospective:

  • Session scope (commit count, file count)
  • Change velocity
  • Areas of focus (which modules touched)

Tips for Best Results

Be Specific About Timeframe

Good:

  • "Last 2 hours"
  • "Since 2025-10-23 14:00"
  • "Today from 9am to 5pm"

Less specific (still works, but may need clarification):

  • "Recent changes" → skill will ask "how recent?"
  • "My work" → skill will ask "from when?"

Request Appropriate Depth

For quick checks: "Give me a concise summary" For thorough review: "Detailed analysis with diffs" For PR prep: "Code review format"

The skill will recommend depth based on session size, but you can override.

Use Filters for Large Sessions

If you worked on multiple areas:

  • "Show only authentication changes from today"
  • "Analyze ViewModel changes in the last week"

This keeps output focused and context-efficient.

Output Examples

Example 1: Quick Work Log

Input: "What did I work on this morning?"

Output:

Git Session Summary (9:00am - 12:00pm)

Commits: 6
Files: 9 modified, 1 added
Changes: +220 -65 lines

Commits:

- Add biometric authentication support
- Refactor LoginViewModel state handling
- Update authentication tests
- Fix credential manager integration
- Add error handling for biometric failures
- Update documentation

Key Files:

1. BiometricAuthManager.kt (+85 -15)
2. LoginViewModel.kt (+60 -25)
3. AuthenticationTests.kt (+45 -20)

Example 2: Code Review Ready

Input: "Generate PR summary for my feature branch"

Output:

Pull Request Summary

Title: Add Biometric Authentication Support

Overview:

- 12 commits over 3 days
- 15 files changed across 3 modules
- Adds biometric authentication flow with fallback

Commits:

1. Implement BiometricAuthManager for authentication
2. Add biometric prompt UI components
3. Integrate with CredentialManager API
   ...

Changes by Module:

app (8 files):

- BiometricAuthManager.kt: Core biometric logic
- LoginScreen.kt: UI integration
- AuthViewModel.kt: State management

core (4 files):

- CredentialProvider.kt: Credential management
- SecurityUtils.kt: Security helpers

tests (3 files):

- BiometricAuthTests.kt: Unit tests
- LoginFlowTests.kt: Integration tests

Test Coverage:
✓ 2 new test files added
✓ 45 new test cases
⚠ Consider: Error handling edge cases

[Diffs for key files would follow]

Integration with Other Skills

This skill integrates with several workflows and can be invoked standalone or as part of other processes:

Retrospecting Skill

  • Invoked during Step 2 (Gather Data - Git Analysis)
  • Provides commit history and change stats for retrospective analysis

Code Review Preparation

  • Generate PR descriptions
  • Identify review focus areas
  • Highlight test coverage changes

Daily Standup Reports

  • "What did I work on yesterday?"
  • Quick summary of activity

Work Log Generation

  • Weekly/monthly activity summaries
  • Contribution tracking

Performance Notes

Context Efficiency

  • Concise mode: ~500-1K tokens (very efficient)
  • Detailed mode: ~2-5K tokens (moderate)
  • Code Review mode: ~3-8K tokens (comprehensive)

For large sessions (>30 files), the skill automatically uses concise mode to prevent context overflow.

Speed

  • Git commands are fast (typically <1 second)
  • Analysis and formatting: 5-10 seconds
  • Total time: Usually <30 seconds

Limitations

Cannot:

  • Analyze uncommitted changes (use git status or git diff directly)
  • Access remote branches not fetched locally
  • Interpret semantic meaning of changes (shows what changed, not why)
  • Generate commits or modify git history

Works best with:

  • Clean commit history with meaningful messages
  • Commits pushed regularly (not one giant commit)
  • Reasonable session sizes (<100 files changed)

Troubleshooting

"No commits found in range"

  • Check your time syntax: "since 2 hours ago" not "2 hours"
  • Verify commits exist: git log --since="your timeframe"
  • Try absolute time: "since 2025-10-23 10:00"

"Too many files changed, showing summary only"

  • This is context protection (>30 files)
  • Request specific paths: "Show only app/ changes"
  • Use concise mode explicitly
  • Split analysis into multiple focused queries

"Commit range invalid"

  • Check commit hashes exist: git log abc123
  • Use correct range syntax: start..end (two dots)
  • Ensure branch names are correct

Output seems incomplete

  • Specify "detailed" mode explicitly
  • Check if session size triggered automatic concise mode
  • Request specific files: "Show diffs for MainActivity.kt"

Version History

v1.0 (2025-10-23):

  • Initial release
  • Support for time ranges and commit ranges
  • Three output formats (concise, detailed, code review)
  • Context-aware depth selection
  • Integration with retrospecting skill

Feedback

Found an issue or want a feature?

  • Update .claude/skills/analyzing-git-sessions/SKILL.md
  • Modify this README for documentation improvements
  • Suggest new output formats or filters

Maintained By: @team-ai-sme Related Skills: retrospecting, reviewing-changes

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