Most Product Managers struggle to get quick, accurate answers about development progress. Asking engineers "What's the status?" interrupts their flow. Checking project management tools shows planned work, not actual code changes. There's a better way: understanding git status through AI assistance.
This guide shows you how to use git and Claude Code to track development progress in real-time, making you a more effective PM without requiring deep technical knowledge. We'll explore general techniques that work anywhere, then show how Nimbalyst streamlines this workflow into a seamless experience.
Git is where the actual work happens. While your project management tools track intentions and estimates, git repositories contain the truth: what code has actually been written, modified, and merged.
Understanding git status gives you:
The challenge? Git commands and output weren't designed for non-developers. That's where AI assistance transforms everything.
Claude Code acts as your technical translator, turning cryptic git information into clear product insights. Here's how to leverage it effectively.
Instead of running git commands yourself, ask Claude Code: "What development work is currently in progress?" Claude Code will examine the git repository and tell you:
This gives you an instant snapshot without interrupting your developers.
Ask Claude Code: "What code changes have been made since last Friday?"
You'll get a narrative summary of commits, not a wall of technical diff output. Claude Code can explain:
When you need to know about a particular feature: "Show me the git history related to user authentication work."
Claude Code will search commit messages, changed files, and code content to surface relevant development activity. This helps you:
Before your daily standup, ask Claude Code:"What development progress happened yesterday across all active plans?"
You'll get a consolidated update showing:
You enter the standup informed and can ask better questions.
When preparing for sprint reviews or demos, Nimbalyst helps you quickly assess completeness: "Compare git changes to the acceptance criteria for the checkout-flow plan."
Claude Code will:
This makes sprint reviews more productive and keeps everyone honest about what "done" means.
Before any meeting where you'll discuss technical progress: "Summarize git activity relevant to [specific feature or area]."
Walking into meetings informed changes the conversation from status reporting to problem-solving.
During sprint retrospectives, git history provides objective data: "What does our commit history reveal about how this sprint actually went?"
This grounds retrospective discussions in evidence rather than subjective memory.
One powerful way to make git status checking fast and consistent is creating custom Claude Code commands. These are reusable shortcuts that execute specific workflows with a simple slash command.
You can create a custom command like /dev-status that automatically:
To set this up, create a markdown file in your .claude/commands/ directory.
For example, create dev-status.md:
# Development Status Check
Provide a comprehensive development status update:
1. Current branch and recent commits (last 5)
2. All modified, staged, and untracked files
3. List of all branches and their last commit dates
4. Any long-running branches that haven't been merged
5. Summary of development activity in the last 24 hours
6. Potential risks or blockers based on git patterns
Format the response in a clear, scannable way suitable for a Product Manager.
Place the response in the DevStatus folder in this directory
Now typing /dev-status instantly triggers a comprehensive analysis without you needing to remember what to ask.
Create targeted commands for specific areas of your product:
/auth-progress.md: Show all git activity related to authentication features in the last week, including commits, branches, and file changes.
/sprint-summary.md: Analyze all commits since the start of the current sprint and organize them by feature area with progress assessments.
These custom commands become your personal PM toolkit, giving you instant access to exactly the information you need most often.
While Claude Code makes git accessible to Product Managers, Nimbalyst takes it further by providing a UI for working with Claude Code, a markdown editor to review its output and edit it iteratively with Claude Code, and a link between your planning environment and your git via Claude Code.
Nimbalyst provides a UI for Managing Claude Code where you can use Slash commands, see the output Claude Code comes back with, edit it, and iterate on it with Claude Code.
Nimbalyst combines your markdown-based plans with live git status. When you open a plan document for a feature, you can immediately ask:
"What's the development status for this plan?" and Nimbalyst's integrated Claude Code:
Your planning documents and development reality stay connected.
As a PM using Nimbalyst, you work in markdown files that contain your plans, specs, and acceptance criteria. You don't need to switch to a terminal or separate git tool. Simply ask questions in context: "Has the user authentication plan been started?"
Nimbalyst checks git status and tells you:
Nimbalyst understands the structure of your plans because they're written in markdown with YAML frontmatter. It can:
This closed-loop system ensures your plans reflect reality.
Integrating git status into your regular product management routine doesn't require becoming a developer. Here's a practical approach.
Start each day with a quick status check. In Claude Code or Nimbalyst, ask: "What code changes happened since I last checked yesterday?"
This five-minute habit keeps you continuously informed without scheduled status meetings.
Once per week, do a more thorough analysis: "Show me all development activity from the past week organized by feature area."
Use this to:
Product Managers don't need to become git experts, but understanding development status through git gives you superpowers: real-time visibility, objective progress data, and the ability to spot risks early.
Claude Code makes git accessible by translating technical information into product insights. You can track progress, understand velocity, and make better decisions without interrupting your engineering team.
Nimbalyst takes this further by integrating AI-assisted git analysis directly into your markdown-based planning workflow. Your plans and actual development stay connected, status updates happen in context, and you maintain a clear picture of progress without leaving your planning documents.
The result? You're a more effective Product Manager who makes decisions based on what's actually happening in the codebase, not just what's reflected in project management tools.
Ready to transform how you track development progress? Start by asking Claude Code about your git status today. If you want the seamless, integrated experience, explore how Nimbalyst brings planning and development visibility together in one place.