How to Disable no-mistakes for a Specific Branch or Commit

The no-mistakes gate does not support disabling validation for individual branches or commits. Because the tool intentionally loads .no-mistakes.yaml only from the default branch to prevent supply-chain attacks, you must use global workarounds or bypass the hook entirely to skip validation for specific work.

The kunchenguid/no-mistakes repository provides a pre-push quality gate that validates every commit before it reaches the remote. If you need to disable no-mistakes for a specific branch or commit, you will encounter a deliberate architectural limitation: the tool's security model treats all per-branch configuration as untrusted, making granular opt-outs impossible without circumventing the gate completely.

Why Per-Branch Configuration Is Blocked

The tool's daemon logic explicitly ignores configuration files that exist on feature branches. In internal/daemon/manager.go, the gate fetches and parses .no-mistakes.yaml exclusively from the repository's default branch:

if err := repo.FetchDefaultBranch(); err != nil {
    slog.Warn("failed to fetch default branch; trusted config disabled")
    // At this point the gate will operate with its default behavior,
    // ignoring any .no-mistakes.yaml that might exist on the pushed branch.
}

This design prevents supply-chain attacks where a malicious actor could commit a disabled configuration to a feature branch and bypass quality checks. As documented in AGENTS.md, this security boundary means any attempt to add a disable: true flag to a feature branch's .no-mistakes.yaml will be ignored by the gate.

Three Methods to Bypass Validation

While you cannot configure branch-specific exceptions, you can bypass the gate entirely using these three approaches.

Push Directly to Remote (Bypass the Hook)

The most straightforward method is to bypass the local gate by pushing directly to the remote repository. This circumventes no-mistakes because the tool operates as a local pre-push hook or daemon that intercepts standard git push commands.

# Bypass the gate entirely by pushing straight to origin

git push origin feature-branch-name

When you push directly to the remote URL, the local no-mistakes process is never invoked, so no validation pipeline runs. This is the only way to completely skip the gate for a specific branch without modifying global settings.

Temporarily Disable Auto-Fix Globally

You can neuter the gate's automatic remediation by setting all auto_fix values to 0 (disabled) in your user-level configuration. This does not stop the pipeline from running, but it forces every finding to be handled manually, effectively making the gate a no-op for automated fixes.

Edit your user configuration file (typically $HOME/.config/no-mistakes/config.yaml):

auto_fix:
  lint: 0
  test: 0
  ci:   0

According to internal/config/config.go, these global settings apply to the entire repository, not individual branches. This change affects every push until you revert the values, so use this method only when you need temporary repository-wide suppression.

Keep Changes Local Until Ready

If you need to avoid triggering the gate for work-in-progress, maintain your changes in a local branch without pushing. The no-mistakes gate only activates during push operations, so commits that remain local never undergo validation.

# Work locally without triggering the gate

git checkout -b local-only-feature

# Make commits...

# Only push when ready for validation

git push origin local-only-feature

This approach respects the tool's security model while allowing you to delay validation until your code is ready for review.

Technical Implementation Details

The gate's configuration architecture in internal/config/config.go defines global flags such as auto_fix, intent, and disabled readers that apply universally across the repository. There is no interface in cmd/no-mistakes/main.go to accept CLI flags like --disable or --skip-branch that would override behavior for a single push.

The security model implemented in internal/daemon/manager.go deliberately discards branch-specific configuration to ensure that an attacker cannot compromise the pipeline by modifying files on a feature branch. Consequently, the FetchDefaultBranch() method only trusts the default branch's copy of the configuration, rendering any per-commit disable flags inert.

Summary

• Per-branch disabling is architecturally impossible because no-mistakes loads .no-mistakes.yaml exclusively from the default branch to prevent supply-chain attacks.
• Push directly to remote to bypass the gate entirely for a specific branch without affecting global settings.
• Set auto_fix to 0 in your user config to disable automatic remediation repository-wide.
• Keep work local to defer validation until you are ready to push.
• No CLI flags exist in cmd/no-mistakes/main.go to disable the gate for individual commits or branches.

Frequently Asked Questions

Can I add a disable flag to .no-mistakes.yaml on my feature branch?

No. The daemon in internal/daemon/manager.go explicitly ignores any .no-mistakes.yaml file that exists on a feature branch, loading configuration only from the default branch. This security measure prevents malicious configuration changes from bypassing quality checks.

Is there a --disable or --skip flag for the CLI?

No. The entry point in cmd/no-mistakes/main.go does not expose command-line flags to disable the gate for specific branches or commits. The tool is designed to validate every push that passes through it, with behavior controlled only by global configuration options.

Why does no-mistakes ignore my branch's configuration file?

The tool treats feature branches as potentially compromised. According to the logic in internal/daemon/manager.go and the security documentation in AGENTS.md, parsing configuration from non-default branches would create a supply-chain vulnerability where attackers could disable security checks by committing modified configuration files.

Will pushing directly to origin bypass all checks?

Yes. Executing git push origin <branch> directly bypasses the local no-mistakes hook or daemon entirely. This prevents the validation pipeline from running for that specific push operation, though it means no automated quality checks will be performed on your code.

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "instagit": {
      "command": "npx",
      "args": ["-y", "instagit@latest"]
    }
  }
}