Team Collaboration

Learn how to work effectively with your team using Ivaldi.

Setting Up for Collaboration

Initial Setup

# Clone team repository
ivaldi download team/project
cd project

# Configure your identity
ivaldi config --set user.name "Your Name"
ivaldi config --set user.email "you@company.com"

GitHub Authentication

# Option 1: GitHub token
export GITHUB_TOKEN="your_token"

# Option 2: GitHub CLI
gh auth login

Daily Team Workflow

Morning Sync

Start your day by syncing with the team:

# See what's new on remote
ivaldi scout

# Update main timeline
ivaldi timeline switch main
ivaldi harvest --update

# Check status
ivaldi log --limit 5

Work on Feature

# Create your feature timeline
ivaldi timeline create feature-user-dashboard

# Make changes
vim src/dashboard.js
ivaldi gather .
ivaldi seal "Add dashboard layout"

# Push for team visibility
ivaldi upload

End of Day

# Push your progress
ivaldi gather .
ivaldi seal "WIP: Dashboard - completed layout, need to add data"
ivaldi upload

# Teammates can now see your work!

Reviewing Teammate’s Work

Discover and Download

# See what timelines are available
$ ivaldi scout

Remote timelines available:
  main
  feature-authentication (Alice)
  feature-payment (Bob)
  bugfix-validation (Carol)

# Download Alice's branch
ivaldi harvest feature-authentication

Review Changes

# Switch to teammate's timeline
ivaldi timeline switch feature-authentication

# Review commits
ivaldi log

# See what changed
ivaldi diff main

# Test locally
npm test

Provide Feedback

# Add improvements
vim src/auth.js
ivaldi gather .
ivaldi seal "Add error handling to login flow"

# Push back
ivaldi upload

# Alice will see your contribution!

Contributing to Shared Timeline

Pull Latest Changes

# Switch to shared timeline
ivaldi timeline switch feature-payment

# Get latest from remote
ivaldi harvest feature-payment --update

Add Your Changes

# Make improvements
vim src/payment/stripe.js
ivaldi gather .
ivaldi seal "Add Stripe webhook handling"

# Push
ivaldi upload

Sync Regularly

# Before starting work
ivaldi harvest feature-shared --update

# After making changes
ivaldi upload

# This minimizes conflicts

Handling Team Changes

Merge Main into Feature

Keep your feature up-to-date with main:

# Switch to your feature
ivaldi timeline switch feature-dashboard

# Get latest main
ivaldi harvest main --update

# Merge main into feature
ivaldi fuse main to feature-dashboard

# Resolve any conflicts
ivaldi fuse --strategy=theirs main to feature-dashboard
# or manually resolve

# Push updated feature
ivaldi upload

Update Multiple Features

# Get all updates
ivaldi scout
ivaldi harvest --update

# Update each feature timeline
for timeline in feature-a feature-b feature-c; do
    ivaldi timeline switch $timeline
    ivaldi fuse main to $timeline
done

Code Review Workflow

Prepare for Review

# Ensure clean history
ivaldi log

# Push final version
ivaldi gather .
ivaldi seal "Final: User dashboard with all features"
ivaldi upload

Review Process

Reviewer:

# Get feature branch
ivaldi scout
ivaldi harvest feature-user-dashboard

# Switch and review
ivaldi timeline switch feature-user-dashboard
ivaldi log
ivaldi diff main

# Test
npm test

# Approve by merging
ivaldi timeline switch main
ivaldi fuse feature-user-dashboard to main
ivaldi upload

Request Changes

Reviewer:

# Add comments as commits
ivaldi gather .
ivaldi seal "Review: Add input validation on line 42"
ivaldi upload

Author responds:

# Get reviewer's comments
ivaldi harvest feature-user-dashboard --update

# Make changes
vim src/dashboard.js
ivaldi seal "Address review: Add input validation"
ivaldi upload

Selective Sync

Ivaldi’s killer feature for teams: download only what you need.

Download Specific Features

# See all branches
$ ivaldi scout

Remote timelines available:
  main
  feature-auth
  feature-payment
  feature-ui
  feature-mobile
  feature-analytics
  experimental-redesign

# Only download what you need
ivaldi harvest feature-auth feature-payment

# Skip the rest!
# Saves bandwidth and disk space

Team Benefits

# Frontend developer: Only get UI branches
ivaldi harvest feature-ui feature-design

# Backend developer: Only get API branches
ivaldi harvest feature-api feature-database

# Full-stack: Get what you need when you need it
ivaldi scout
ivaldi harvest feature-auth
# Work on auth...
ivaldi harvest feature-payment
# Now work on payment...

Release Coordination

Preparing Release

Release manager:

# Create release timeline
ivaldi timeline create release-v1.2

# Merge approved features
ivaldi fuse feature-auth to release-v1.2
ivaldi fuse feature-payment to release-v1.2
ivaldi fuse feature-ui to release-v1.2

# Final testing
ivaldi seal "Update version to 1.2.0"
ivaldi seal "Update changelog"

# Merge to main
ivaldi timeline switch main
ivaldi fuse release-v1.2 to main
ivaldi upload

Team members:

# Get release timeline for testing
ivaldi harvest release-v1.2
ivaldi timeline switch release-v1.2

# Test and report

Conflict Resolution

Preventing Conflicts

# Sync frequently
ivaldi harvest main --update
ivaldi fuse main to feature-branch

# Small, focused changes
# Communicate with team

Resolving Conflicts

$ ivaldi fuse feature-a to main

[CONFLICTS] Merge conflicts detected:
  CONFLICT: src/shared.go

# Strategy 1: Accept their changes
ivaldi fuse --strategy=theirs feature-a to main

# Strategy 2: Keep our changes
ivaldi fuse --strategy=ours feature-a to main

# Strategy 3: Manual resolution
vim src/shared.go  # Edit file
ivaldi gather src/shared.go
ivaldi fuse --continue

Communication

When conflicts occur:

  1. Talk to teammate who worked on conflicted file
  2. Decide on resolution together
  3. Apply agreed-upon changes
  4. Test thoroughly

Team Best Practices

Naming Conventions

Agree on timeline naming:

# By person
alice/feature-auth
bob/feature-payment

# By type
feature/authentication
bugfix/memory-leak
hotfix/security-patch

# By ticket
JIRA-123-add-login
JIRA-456-fix-validation

Commit Messages

Use consistent format:

# Good team messages
ivaldi seal "feat: Add OAuth2 authentication"
ivaldi seal "fix: Resolve memory leak in parser"
ivaldi seal "docs: Update API documentation"

# Include ticket numbers
ivaldi seal "JIRA-123: Implement user login endpoint"

Regular Syncing

# Morning routine
ivaldi scout
ivaldi harvest --update

# Before starting work
ivaldi harvest main --update
ivaldi fuse main to feature-branch

# Before ending day
ivaldi upload

Feature Timeline Lifecycle

  1. Create: ivaldi timeline create feature-name
  2. Push early: ivaldi upload (even WIP)
  3. Sync daily: ivaldi fuse main to feature-name
  4. Communicate: Let team know about significant changes
  5. Review: Request code review
  6. Merge: Integrate into main
  7. Clean: Remove merged timeline

Team Communication Patterns

Feature Handoff

Developer A:

ivaldi seal "WIP: Authentication - completed login, need logout"
ivaldi upload
# Message team: "Login complete, can someone add logout?"

Developer B:

ivaldi harvest feature-auth
ivaldi timeline switch feature-auth
ivaldi seal "Add logout endpoint"
ivaldi upload
# Message: "Logout added!"

Pair Programming

# Developer A drives
ivaldi gather .
ivaldi seal "Add validation logic"
ivaldi upload

# Developer B takes over
ivaldi harvest feature-shared --update
ivaldi gather .
ivaldi seal "Add error handling"
ivaldi upload

# Developer A continues
ivaldi harvest feature-shared --update
# ...

Code Review Comments

# Reviewer
ivaldi timeline switch feature-to-review
ivaldi seal "Review: Consider using factory pattern here"
ivaldi seal "Review: Need unit tests for this function"
ivaldi upload

# Author sees and addresses
ivaldi harvest feature-to-review --update
ivaldi log
# Make changes based on feedback

Large Team Strategies

Component Teams

# Frontend team
ivaldi harvest feature-ui-*

# Backend team
ivaldi harvest feature-api-*

# Mobile team
ivaldi harvest feature-mobile-*

Integration Timeline

# Create integration timeline
ivaldi timeline create integration-sprint-42

# Each team merges their work
ivaldi fuse feature-ui-dashboard to integration-sprint-42
ivaldi fuse feature-api-users to integration-sprint-42

# Test integration
# Fix issues

# Merge to main when ready
ivaldi fuse integration-sprint-42 to main

Troubleshooting

Someone Pushed Breaking Changes

# Use time travel to before breakage
ivaldi travel
# Select good commit, diverge
# Continue work on stable base

Accidentally Pushed to Wrong Branch

# Download correct branch
ivaldi harvest correct-branch

# Cherry-pick changes
ivaldi timeline switch correct-branch
# Manually apply changes
ivaldi gather .
ivaldi seal "Moved changes to correct branch"
ivaldi upload

Lost Local Work

# Check all timelines
ivaldi timeline list

# Check each timeline
ivaldi timeline switch feature-x
ivaldi status

# If pushed, re-download
ivaldi harvest feature-x --update

Summary

Team collaboration essentials:

Key commands:

Next Steps