Description

When running av branch <name> -m '<message>' in a freshly cloned and av init'd repository, the resulting av.db entry records the new branch as its own parent instead of the current HEAD branch (e.g., dev).

This creates a circular reference in the branch graph, which causes a stack overflow in SubsequentBranches when any subsequent av command traverses the branch tree (av tree, av sync, av pr, etc.).

Steps to Reproduce

git clone [email protected]:<org>/<repo>.git fresh-clone
cd fresh-clone
git checkout dev && git pull
av init
av branch my-feature -m 'feat: my feature'
cat .git/av/av.db

Expected Result

{
  "branches": {
    "my-feature": {
      "name": "my-feature",
      "parent": {
        "name": "dev",
        "trunk": true
      }
    }
  }
}

Actual Result

{
  "branches": {
    "my-feature": {
      "name": "my-feature",
      "parent": {
        "name": "my-feature",
        "trunk": true
      }
    }
  }
}

The branch is its own parent. Any subsequent av tree or av sync call triggers infinite recursion in SubsequentBranches and crashes with a goroutine stack overflow.

Workaround

Manually edit .git/av/av.db and set parent.name to the correct trunk branch (e.g., dev). After this fix, all av commands work correctly.

Environment

• av version: v0.1.19
• OS: Ubuntu 22.04 (Linux 6.8.0-107-generic)
• Discovered by myself and Gwen while running parallel development workflows across multiple cloned copies of the same repository

Additional Context

This is reproducible in every fresh clone — tested across 3 separate clones of the same repo, all exhibited the identical self-referencing parent bug. The main (original) repo's av.db has correct parent entries for branches created there, so the issue is specific to av branch in a freshly initialized clone.

The secondary issue is that SubsequentBranches has no cycle detection or depth guard — a self-referencing parent should be caught and reported as an error rather than causing a stack overflow.