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Branches Guide

A comprehensive, intuitive guide to mastering branches in Git and GitHub.

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📖 Table of Contents (TOC)

1. About

2. ⚙️ Glossary

3. 🚀 Quickstart

4. 🌳 Branch Concepts

5. 🗂️ Branch Types

6. ⚙️ Workflow

   • GitHub Flow
   • Git Flow

7. 🔧 Essential Operations

   • Create a Branch
   • Update a Branch
   • Publish a Branch
   • Pull Request & Merge

8. ⏰ When to Use Each Branch

9. 👍 Best Practices

10. 🚀 Next Steps

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📌 About

This repository is a visual, step-by-step guide for both beginners and professionals to understand and apply branching strategies in Git and GitHub. It includes clear definitions, workflow diagrams, and practical examples.

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⚙️ Glossary

Term	Brief Description
branch / branches	An independent line of development.
commit / commits	A snapshot of changes in the repository.
pull request / PR	A proposal to merge one branch into another, with code review.
merge / merges	The action of combining changes from different branches.
main	The primary, stable branch (production).
develop	The integration branch for new features.
feature/	Prefix for branches developing new features.
bugfix/	Prefix for branches fixing bugs during development.
hotfix/	Prefix for branches with critical production fixes.
release/	Prefix for branches preparing a new software release.
experiment/	Prefix for prototype and test branches without guaranteed merge.
squash	Combines multiple commits into a single commit.
rebase	Reapplies commits from one branch onto another, creating a linear history.

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🚀 Quickstart

1. Create a Branch

   git switch -c feature/your-feature-name

2. Make Commits

   git add . && git commit -m "Clear description of your change"

3. Push to GitHub

   git push -u origin feature/your-feature-name

4. Open a Pull Request

   • On GitHub, select your branch and click New Pull Request.

5. Review & Merge

   • After approval, merge and delete your branch:

     git switch main && git pull
     git branch -d feature/nome-da-feature
     git push origin --delete feature/nome-da-feature

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🌳 Branch Concepts

Each branch serves as an isolated workspace for your changes. Imagine your project history as the tree trunk (main), and each branch as a limb where you can work without impacting the trunk.

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🗂️ Branch Types

Prefixo	Exemplo	Propósito
main	main	Production-ready code
develop	develop	Integration of new features
feature/	feature/login	Development of a new feature
bugfix/	bugfix/erro-404	Bug fixes
hotfix/	hotfix/patch-1.0.1	Critical production fixes
release/	release/2.0.0	Release preparation
experiment/	experiment/a-b-test	Experimental prototypes and tests

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⚙️ Workflow

GitHub Flow

1. Always work from main.
2. Create a feature branch.
3. Commit changes frequently.
4. Push and open a PR.
5. After approval, merge into main and deploy.

gitGraph
git checkout main
commit id:"v1.0.0 deploy"
branch feature/a
checkout feature/a
commit id:"Implementa A"
checkout main
merge feature/a

Git Flow

1. main: production
2. develop: continuous integration
3. feature/*: branches created from develop
4. release/*: branches for release preparation
5. hotfix/*: branches for urgent fixes

gitGraph
git checkout -b develop main
commit id:"Sprint Start"
branch feature/b
checkout feature/b
commit id:"Add Feature B"
checkout develop
merge feature/b
branch release/1.0.0
checkout release/1.0.0
commit id:"Finalize & Docs"
checkout main
merge release/1.0.0
 tag v1.0.0
checkout develop
merge release/1.0.0

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🔧 Essential Operations

Create a Branch

git switch -c prefix/branch-name

Update a Branch

git fetch origin
# Rebase to sync with base
git rebase origin/main

Publish Branch

git push -u origin prefix/branch-name

Pull Request & Merge

Note

Merge Options

• Merge Commit: preserves full commit history. Ideal for long-lived features.
• Squash and Merge: consolidates all commits into one. Use for a cleaner history.
• Rebase and Merge: creates a linear history. Best for atomic, well-defined commits.

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⏰ When to Use Each Branch

• feature/: for new features.
• bugfix/: for fixes before release.
• hotfix/: for critical production patches.
• release/: for preparing a release.
• experiment/: for prototypes and tests.

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👍 Best Practices

• Use clear and consistent names.
• Make small and descriptive commits.
• Open detailed PRs with context.
• Protect key branches by requiring reviews.
• Delete merged branches to keep the repository tidy.

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🚀 Next Steps

1. Clone the repository:

   git clone https://github.com/your-username/Branches-Complete-Guide4-Repositories.git

2. Follow the Quickstart.

3. Try out the Workflows.

4. Contribute improvements via PR or Issue.

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