finishing-a-development-branch

Safely finishing a development branch requires verifying tests pass first. You then choose to merge locally, open a pull request, keep the branch, or discard it, followed by safe git branch and worktree cleanup operations.

Cleaning up a git worktree during branch finalization involves selecting a completion workflow like merge or discard. The process then executes safe branch and worktree operations to remove the active workspace once the feature is integrated.

You should open a pull request instead of merging locally when team review is needed. The branch finalization workflow presents structured options to guide this decision after confirming tests pass and detecting the base branch.

Yes, test validation is required before discarding a development branch. The workflow mandates confirming the codebase is passing before guiding you through any merge, pull request, keep-as-is, or discard actions.

The best way to prepare a feature branch for release is to verify tests, detect the base branch, and select a safe integration path. This ensures the finalization process handles branch and worktree operations without rushed cleanup.

Yes, you can keep a development branch as-is. The finalization workflow explicitly offers a keep-as-is option alongside merge, pull request, and discard, allowing you to preserve the branch for later work after validating tests.