Git Workflow

Git Workflow

Effective version control is not just about tracking changes - it is about enabling teams to collaborate predictably, release confidently, and maintain a history that tells a coherent story. The right workflow depends on team size, release cadence, and how much process the project can absorb without slowing down.

Choosing a Branching Strategy

No single branching model fits every team. The right choice depends on how often you release, how large your team is, and how much ceremony you can tolerate.

Strategy Comparison

Decision Guide

1. Do you deploy continuously? - Use trunk-based development. Short-lived branches (hours, not days), feature flags for incomplete work, and strong CI are prerequisites.
2. Do you deploy on merge but want review gates? - Use GitHub Flow. One long-lived branch (main), feature branches, pull requests as the merge gate.
3. Do you ship versioned releases on a schedule? - Use Git Flow. Separate develop and main branches, release branches for stabilization, hotfix branches for emergency patches.
4. Do you promote through environments? - Use GitLab Flow. Environment branches (staging, production) sit downstream of main, and merges flow in one direction.

See Branching Strategies Reference for detailed mechanics, feature flag integration, and migration paths between strategies.

Commit Message Conventions

Good commit messages serve three audiences: reviewers reading the PR, developers reading git log next month, and automation tools generating changelogs and version bumps.

The Conventional Commits Format

<type>(<scope>): <description>

[optional body]

[optional footer(s)]

Common Commit Types

Breaking Changes

Append ! after the type or add a BREAKING CHANGE: footer to signal incompatible changes. Either notation triggers a major version bump when used with automated release tooling.

feat(api)!: remove deprecated /v1/users endpoint

BREAKING CHANGE: The /v1/users endpoint has been removed. Use /v2/users instead.

Semantic Versioning Alignment

See Commit Conventions Reference for scope naming patterns, multi-line body guidelines, changelog automation setup, and git hook validation.

Pull Request Workflow

Pull requests are the primary collaboration point in most git workflows. Their quality directly affects review speed, defect discovery, and team velocity.

PR Size Guidelines

Core PR Practices

• One concern per PR - A PR should do one thing: add a feature, fix a bug, refactor a module. Mixing concerns makes review harder and reverts riskier.
• Write a clear description - State what changed, why it changed, and how to verify it. Link to the relevant ticket or issue.
• Keep the diff reviewable - Move large mechanical changes (renames, formatting) into separate PRs from logic changes.
• Respond to feedback promptly - Stale PRs accumulate merge conflicts and block dependent work.

Merge Strategies

See PR Patterns Reference for description templates, CODEOWNERS configuration, branch protection rules, stacked PR workflows, and review assignment strategies.

Release Management

Release management bridges development and deployment. The approach depends on whether releases are continuous, scheduled, or versioned.

Release Models

Git Tags for Releases

Tags mark specific commits as release points. Use annotated tags for releases because they store author, date, and message metadata.

# Create an annotated release tag
git tag -a v1.2.0 -m "Release 1.2.0: Add user dashboard and fix auth timeout"

# Push tags to remote
git push origin v1.2.0

# List existing tags matching a pattern
git tag -l "v1.*"

Automated Release Pipeline

When conventional commits are combined with release automation tooling, the pipeline can:

1. Analyze commits since the last tag to determine the next version
2. Generate or update the changelog from commit messages
3. Create the git tag
4. Build and publish artifacts
5. Create a release entry on the hosting platform (GitHub/GitLab)

This eliminates manual version decisions and ensures the changelog stays synchronized with actual changes.

Hotfix Workflow

When a critical bug is found in production:

1. Branch from the release tag (not from the development branch)
2. Apply the minimal fix
3. Tag the new patch release
4. Merge the fix forward into the main development line to prevent regression

# Branch from the release tag
git checkout -b hotfix/fix-auth-crash v1.2.0

# After fixing and committing
git tag -a v1.2.1 -m "Hotfix: prevent auth crash on expired tokens"
git push origin v1.2.1

# Merge fix back to main
git checkout main
git merge hotfix/fix-auth-crash

Quick Reference: Common Workflow Problems

Reference Files

Integration with Other Skills