Git Workflow

# Git Workflow

Implement effective branching strategies and pull request workflows for team collaboration.

## When to Use This Skill

Use this skill when:
- Establishing team Git workflows
- Implementing branching strategies
- Configuring pull request processes
- Setting up release management
- Improving code review practices

## Prerequisites

- Git installed
- Repository hosting (GitHub, GitLab, Bitbucket)
- Basic Git knowledge

## Branching Strategies

### Trunk-Based Development

Best for: Continuous deployment, small teams, mature CI/CD

```
main ─────●─────●─────●─────●─────●─────●─────●
          │     │     │     │     │     │
          └─●   └─●   └─●   └─●   └─●   └─●
         feature branches (short-lived)
```

```bash
# Create short-lived feature branch
git checkout main
git pull origin main
git checkout -b feature/add-login

# Work and commit frequently
git add .
git commit -m "feat: add login form"

# Keep branch updated
git fetch origin
git rebase origin/main

# Merge quickly (same day ideally)
git checkout main
git pull origin main
git merge feature/add-login
git push origin main
git branch -d feature/add-login
```

### GitHub Flow

Best for: Continuous delivery, web applications

```
main ─────●─────●───────────●─────────────●─────●
          │           ↑           ↑       ↑
          └───●───●───┘           │       │
              feature/login       │       │
                                  │       │
          └───●───●───●───●───────┘       │
              feature/dashboard           │
                                          │
          └───●─────────────────────────┘
              hotfix/security-patch
```

```bash
# Create feature branch from main
git checkout main
git pull origin main
git checkout -b feature/user-dashboard

# Push and create PR
git push -u origin feature/user-dashboard

# After review, merge via PR (squash recommended)
# Delete branch after merge
```

### GitFlow

Best for: Scheduled releases, versioned products

```
main     ────────●────────────────●──────────────●
                 ↑                ↑              ↑
release  ────────┼────●───●──────┼──────────────┼
                 │    │   │      │              │
develop  ───●────●────┼───●──●───●───●───●───●──┼
            │         │      │       │   │      │
feature  ───┴─────────┘      │       │   │      │
                             │       │   │      │
hotfix   ────────────────────┴───────┼───┼──────┘
                                     │   │
feature  ────────────────────────────┴───┘
```

```bash
# Initialize GitFlow
git flow init

# Start feature
git flow feature start user-auth

# Finish feature (merges to develop)
git flow feature finish user-auth

# Start release
git flow release start 1.0.0

# Finish release (merges to main and develop)
git flow release finish 1.0.0

# Hotfix
git flow hotfix start security-fix
git flow hotfix finish security-fix
```

## Commit Conventions

### Conventional Commits

```
<type>(<scope>): <description>

[optional body]

[optional footer(s)]
```

Types:
- `feat`: New feature
- `fix`: Bug fix
- `docs`: Documentation
- `style`: Formatting
- `refactor`: Code restructuring
- `test`: Adding tests
- `chore`: Maintenance

Examples:
```bash
git commit -m "feat(auth): add OAuth2 login support"
git commit -m "fix(api): handle null response from payment service"
git commit -m "docs: update API documentation for v2 endpoints"
git commit -m "refactor(db): optimize user query performance"

# Breaking change
git commit -m "feat(api)!: change response format for user endpoint

BREAKING CHANGE: The user endpoint now returns an object instead of