git-workflows

A Git workflow defines standardized practices for branching, commits, and pull requests. Choose between Git Flow for complex releases, GitHub Flow for continuous deployment, or Trunk-Based Development for rapid iteration. Each strategy includes branch naming conventions, commit message standards, and code review processes tailored to your team's release cadence and collaboration needs.

Conventional Commits provide semantic structure: type(scope): description. This format enables automated versioning, changelog generation, and CI/CD pipeline triggering. Examples: `feat(auth): add login validation` or `fix(api): resolve timeout issue`. Consistency across commits makes history readable and integrates seamlessly with semantic versioning tools.

Effective PR reviews combine clear descriptions, checklists, and structured feedback. Include context in PR descriptions, reference related issues, and use checklists for testing and documentation. Reviewers should verify code quality, test coverage, and alignment with branch strategy before merging, ensuring code review serves both quality gates and knowledge sharing.

Merge commits preserve full history and work well for long-lived branches; squash merges clean up feature branch commits into one logical unit; rebase merges linearize history for simpler tracking. Your choice depends on workflow type: Git Flow typically uses merge commits, GitHub Flow often uses squash merges, and Trunk-Based Development favors rebasing for a clean main branch.

Workflows scale with team size and release frequency. Small teams often use GitHub Flow for simplicity; larger organizations adopt Git Flow to manage multiple release versions. Trunk-Based Development suits any size but requires strong CI/CD and testing discipline. Choose based on release complexity, team structure, and deployment frequency rather than size alone.

Git Flow and GitHub Flow both support hotfix branches. Create a hotfix branch from your release/production branch, apply the critical fix, merge back to production and main development branch, and tag the release. This isolation prevents incomplete features from reaching production while ensuring the fix deploys independently.