Git branching (workflows)

In short: A branch is a separate line of development in Git. Workflows define how teams use and merge branches.

In more detail: In trunk-based development everyone works on main with small, frequent changes and feature flags. In the feature-branch workflow each task gets a branch that is reviewed via pull request and merged into main. Git Flow additionally uses develop, release and hotfix branches.

In Depth

• Pull request: proposal for merging with review, tests and discussion.
• Squash merge: All commits of a branch become one. History stays tidy.
• Rebase vs. merge: Rebase rewrites history (not on shared branches), merge preserves it.
• Commit messages: short, imperative, “Fix error on login”.
• Protection: protected main branch, mandatory reviews, green tests.

See also: Merge conflicts, Semantic versioning