Git Branching Workflow

Git Branching Workflow

Standardized Git branch creation, naming conventions, and lifecycle hygiene for Apple platform and mobile engineering teams.

Contents

• Trigger Boundary
• Branch Naming Taxonomy
• Branch Lifecycle Rules
• Standard Commands
• AI Agent Branch Isolation
• Common Mistakes
• Review Checklist
• References

Trigger Boundary

Use this skill when creating branches for new features, bug fixes, refactoring, emergency hotfixes, or release preparation. Use it to establish consistent branch names and isolate work units before opening pull requests.

Do not use this skill for resolving complex three-way merge conflicts, debugging git index corruptions, or configuring low-level git hooks.

Branch Naming Taxonomy

Branch names must be lowercase, hyphen-separated (kebab-case), and prefixed by type:

When tracking a project management or issue tracker ticket, place the ticket key immediately after the prefix:

• feat/IOS-1042-biometric-auth
• fix/CORE-89-keychain-migration

Branch Lifecycle Rules

1. Always branch from up-to-date base: Fetch remote state (git fetch origin) before branching off origin/main (or origin/develop). Never branch off stale local tracking branches.
2. Single responsibility: One branch must address one conceptual deliverable. Do not combine feature work with broad cleanup or unrelated refactors.
3. Short-lived branches: Keep feature branches short-lived (1–3 days). Integrate changes incrementally to prevent massive merge divergence.
4. Clean commit history: Group commits logically with imperative commit titles (feat: add passkey enrollment coordinator). Avoid intermediate commit noise ("wip", "fix typo") before final merge.
5. Protected base branches: Never commit directly to main or release branches. All integrations must pass CI verification via pull request.

Standard Commands

Create Feature Branch

git fetch origin
git checkout -b feat/passkey-enrollment origin/main

Create Production Hotfix

git fetch origin
git checkout -b hotfix/expired-auth-token origin/main

Sync Feature Branch with Base (Rebase)

git fetch origin
git rebase origin/main

Delete Branch After Merge

git branch -d feat/passkey-enrollment
git push origin --delete feat/passkey-enrollment

AI Agent Branch Isolation

When an AI agent is tasked with building a feature or executing a migration:

• Check out a dedicated branch (feature/ or feat/) before making filesystem changes.
• Never perform destructive edits or broad refactoring on main.
• Verify that untracked or scratch files do not pollute the git working directory before opening a pull request.

Common Mistakes

• Ambiguous or generic branch names: Using temp, test, my-work, or fix-bug without domain context.
• Branching from stale local refs: Creating a branch without running git fetch origin first, causing old base commit divergence.
• Scope creep: Adding feature work into a branch named fix/... or mixing architecture rewrites into a bugfix branch.
• Using uppercase or snake_case: Naming branches Feat/NewUI or fix/crash_issue instead of feat/new-ui and fix/crash-issue.
• Rebasing public shared branches: Rebasing branches where multiple developers collaborate, causing commit history rewrites.

Review Checklist

• Branch name strictly adheres to <prefix>/<kebab-case-description> or <prefix>/<TICKET>-<description>.
• Branch was created from the latest remote base (origin/main or origin/develop).
• Branch changes match the declared prefix scope (no feature code in a fix/ branch).
• No extraneous files (.DS_Store, build artifacts, temporary scratch scripts) are tracked.
• Branch is rebased onto the target base branch before opening PR.

References

• Branch Conventions and Lifecycle — Comprehensive guide on branching strategies, PR workflows, CI/CD trigger automation, and team hygiene.