Branch naming

autoducks uses a predictable, issue-number-rooted branch naming convention. Every branch traces back to its source issue, and the prefix encodes the issue kind: Features get feature/…, Bugs get fix/….

Patterns

Context	Pattern	Example
Feature pipeline branch	`feature/{id}-{slug}`	`feature/42-user-auth`
Bug pipeline branch	`fix/{id}-{slug}`	`fix/57-login-crash`
Task under a pipeline branch	`{feature\|fix}/{parent_id}-issue-{task_id}-{timestamp}`	`feature/42-issue-43-1751941200`
Fix-agent retry branch	`{feature\|fix}/{parent_id}-issue-{task_id}-fix-{timestamp}`	`feature/42-issue-43-fix-1751943000`

Task branches inherit the prefix of the pipeline branch they’re cut from. The fix-agent -fix-{timestamp} suffix is unrelated to the fix/ prefix — the former marks a retry attempt, the latter marks a Bug pipeline.

The Maestro’s PR-merged advancement trigger listens on both feature/* and fix/*.

Slug generation

Slugs are generated from the issue title: lowercase, non-alphanumerics to hyphens, collapsed, truncated to 50 characters.

"Add dark mode toggle to settings" → feature/42-add-dark-mode-toggle-to-settings

Why timestamps in task branches?

Multiple execution attempts never collide.
The Fix agent locates partial work from prior attempts via prefix matching (newest wins).
Each branch identifies which attempt it belongs to.

Branch relationships

main (base_branch)
└── feature/42-my-feature            ← pipeline branch (draft PR → integration_branch, human review)
    ├── feature/42-issue-43-...      ← task 1 branch (PR → pipeline branch, auto-merge)
    ├── feature/42-issue-44-...      ← task 2 branch (PR → pipeline branch, auto-merge)
    └── feature/42-issue-45-...      ← task 3 branch (PR → pipeline branch, auto-merge)

For Bugs, replace feature/42-… with fix/57-… — the shape is identical.

Lifecycle

Branch type	Created by	Deleted by
Pipeline branch	Maestro	Close agent (`/close`)
Task branch	Developer	Merge policy (GitHub auto-deletes on PR merge)
Fix retry branch	Fix agent	Merge policy

Pipeline branches are not auto-deleted when the final PR merges — GitHub’s delete-on-merge policy handles task and fix branches.