finishing-a-development-branch

To safely merge a feature branch after tests pass, use a structured workflow that verifies tests, detects the base branch, and presents four explicit options: merge locally, push and create a pull request, keep as-is, or discard.

The best way to clean up git worktrees and branches after a merge is to use a workflow that offers optional cleanup steps, ensuring repository hygiene is maintained immediately after you finalize your integration decision.

Base-branch detection identifies the parent branch your feature work diverged from, enabling the workflow to accurately target merge or pull request operations against the correct integration path.

Yes, you can create a pull request directly from a local feature branch workflow by selecting the push and create PR option, which pushes your verified changes to the remote repository and initiates the pull request.

You have exactly four options for integrating a completed feature branch: merge the work locally, push and create a pull request, keep the branch as-is, or discard the changes entirely.

Yes, you need to run tests before finalizing a git branch merge to prevent broken integrations, and a structured completion workflow verifies that all tests pass before presenting explicit integration options.