gh-dhofheinz-open-plugins-plugins-git-commit-assistant/commands/commit-error-handling/handle-no-repo.md

Operation: Handle No Repository Error

Detect and resolve "not a git repository" errors.

Purpose

When git commands fail with fatal: not a git repository (or any of the parent directories): .git, guide users to resolve the issue.

Parameters

None required - detection is automatic.

Workflow

1. Verify Repository Status

Execute the repository checker script:

/home/danie/projects/plugins/architect/open-plugins/plugins/git-commit-assistant/commands/commit-error-handling/.scripts/repo-checker.sh

This will return JSON:

{
  "is_repo": false,
  "git_dir": null,
  "error": "not a git repository"
}

2. Analyze Context

Check the current directory:

pwd
ls -la

Determine if:

• User is in the wrong directory
• Repository was never initialized
• .git directory was deleted
• User needs to clone a repository

3. Provide Solutions

Present clear, actionable solutions based on the scenario:

Scenario A: Need to Initialize New Repository

ERROR: Not a Git Repository
━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━

Current directory: /path/to/directory
This is not a git repository.

SOLUTION 1: Initialize a New Repository
━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━

If you want to start version control here:

1. Initialize git:
   git init

2. Add files:
   git add .

3. Create first commit:
   git commit -m "Initial commit"

4. (Optional) Connect to remote:
   git remote add origin <url>
   git push -u origin main

Scenario B: Wrong Directory

SOLUTION 2: Navigate to Your Repository
━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━

If your git repository is elsewhere:

1. Find your repository:
   find ~ -type d -name ".git" 2>/dev/null

2. Navigate to it:
   cd /path/to/your/repo

3. Try your command again

Scenario C: Clone Existing Repository

SOLUTION 3: Clone an Existing Repository
━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━

If you need to clone a remote repository:

1. Clone the repository:
   git clone <repository-url>

2. Navigate into it:
   cd <repository-name>

3. Verify:
   git status

4. Interactive Guidance

If context is unclear, ask clarifying questions:

What would you like to do?

A) Initialize a new git repository here
B) Navigate to an existing repository
C) Clone a repository from a URL
D) Not sure, need more help

Please respond with A, B, C, or D.

Error Handling

If pwd fails

Unable to determine current directory.
Please manually navigate to your git repository.

If user has no permissions

Permission denied: Cannot initialize repository here.
Try a directory where you have write permissions.

Output Format

Always provide:

1. Clear error description - What's wrong
2. Context - Current directory and state
3. Multiple solutions - Ordered by likelihood
4. Specific commands - Copy-pasteable
5. Next steps - What to do after resolution

Success Indicators

After user follows guidance:

• git status works without errors
• User can proceed with git operations
• .git directory exists and is valid

Related Operations

• After resolution, run diagnose-issues to verify full repository health
• Before committing, run handle-no-changes to ensure there are changes