Setting Up Git Workflow and Branching Strategy

20 items · Technical · Medium difficulty · 45 min

Set up a clear Git branching model, PR rules, and commit linting for your repo.

• Choose branching model

  Pick the model that fits your release cadence and team size.

• Evaluate GitHub Flow

  Simple feature branches + short-lived PRs, good for continuous deploy.

• Evaluate Gitflow

  Structured releases with long-lived release and hotfix branches.

• Evaluate trunk-based development

  Short-lived branches, feature flags, and frequent integration to main.

• Define branch naming convention

  Create clear prefix rules and examples for all branch types.

• Adopt prefix rules (feature/, fix/, chore/)

  Standardize prefixes to identify purpose at a glance.

• Include ticket or issue IDs in branch names

  Use PROJ-123 or #123 to link branches to work items.

• Create a pull request (PR) template

  Include description, checklist, testing steps, and linked issues.

• Set required reviewers and review rules

  Decide on number of reviewers, review scope, and approval rules.

• Add a CODEOWNERS file to auto-request reviewers

  Map paths to teams to ensure consistent reviewer assignment.

• Choose repository merge strategy

  Decide between merge commits, squash, or rebase for your history.

• Prefer squash merges for feature PRs

  Use squash to keep main history linear and grouped by PR.

• Protect main (or trunk) branch

  Enable protections: require PR, disallow force pushes, and block direct commits.

• Require passing CI and status checks before merge

  Block merges until tests and linters pass on the PR branch.

• Enforce semantic commit messages

  Adopt a commit message convention (Conventional Commits, etc.).

• Add commit-msg hook with commitlint

  Use husky or native hooks to validate messages before commit.

• Enable automatic deletion of merged branches

  Turn on repo setting or a cleanup action to remove merged branches.

• Document the workflow and examples in the repo

  Add README section with diagrams, commands, and examples.

• Announce the workflow and run a short onboarding

  Share docs, hold a demo, and answer team questions.

• Review and iterate the workflow regularly

  Collect feedback after a release and adjust rules quarterly.

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