finishing-a-development-branch

To safely complete a git branch, this workflow runs your project test suite as a gate before presenting any integration options. You must confirm test success to proceed with a local merge, pull request, keep, or discard workflow.

After test verification passes, you get exactly four concise options: local merge, create a pull request, keep the branch as-is, or discard it. Discarding requires typed confirmation to prevent accidental data loss.

Git worktree cleanup automatically removes the worktree when you choose to merge or discard the branch. If you choose to keep the branch as-is, the worktree is preserved so you can continue working in that isolated directory.

Yes, when you select the pull request option to finish your development branch, the workflow handles the PR creation while preserving your local worktree. Worktree removal only occurs for the local merge and discard flows.

The best way to prevent broken code in your release workflow is enforcing a test-first completion gate. This ensures the project test suite passes and requires explicit confirmation before allowing any branch integration or merge to proceed.