finishing-a-development-branch

To finalize a development branch, you validate tests and choose from four structured options: merge locally, push for a PR, keep the branch, or discard the work. This structured workflow ensures safe integration and cleanup.

The options for finishing a git workflow include merging locally, pushing to create a pull request, keeping the branch as-is, or discarding the work. These choices guide the finalization and optional worktree cleanup.

Yes, a valid test run is required before merging a development branch. The finalization process enforces deterministic steps that verify test results to determine readiness for integration before presenting merge or cleanup options.

Yes, you can discard work and cleanup worktrees when finalizing a branch. The process presents explicit actions including discarding the work, which triggers safe cleanup of worktrees when finishing the development effort.

The best way to manage pull request creation is using a structured finalization process that detects the base branch and offers to push and create a PR. This ensures the completed work is safely integrated.

You should keep a branch for later instead of merging when the work is not ready for integration or requires future updates. The finalization workflow explicitly offers keeping the branch as-is as one of its four options.