GitHub Flow
The GitHub Flow is a lightweight, branch-based workflow that supports teams and projects where deployments are made regularly. This workflow was popularized by GitHub and has become a standard for many development teams due to its simplicity and efficiency.
Overview
The core principle of GitHub Flow revolves around:
- Main Branch: There is a single main branch, typically named 'main' or 'master', which is always deployable.
- Feature Branches: All changes for bugs, features, or experiments are done in separate branches.
- Pull Requests: Developers submit pull requests to propose changes, which are then reviewed and discussed.
- Continuous Integration: Automated tests are run against the pull request to ensure code quality.
- Deployment: Once changes are merged into the main branch, they can be automatically deployed to production or a staging environment.
Steps of GitHub Flow
- Create a Branch: Developers create a new branch from 'main' for each new feature or bug fix.
- Add Commits: Make changes and commit them to this branch.
- Open a Pull Request: When ready, developers push their branch to GitHub and open a Pull Request to propose integrating their changes into 'main'.
- Discuss and Review: Team members discuss the changes, suggest improvements, and perform code reviews.
- Deploy: After merging, the changes can be deployed to production.
- Merge: Once the pull request is approved, it is merged back into 'main'.
Benefits
- Simplicity: The workflow is straightforward, reducing the overhead of managing multiple long-lived branches.
- Continuous Delivery: Encourages small, frequent updates, facilitating continuous integration and deployment.
- Collaboration: Pull requests facilitate collaboration, code review, and knowledge sharing among team members.
- Traceability: Every change is linked to a pull request, making it easier to understand the context of commits.
History and Context
The GitHub Flow was introduced as GitHub's recommended way of working with Git. It was designed to fit with the philosophy of GitHub, which emphasizes collaboration, transparency, and continuous delivery. Over time, it has influenced many organizations to adopt similar practices even if they do not use GitHub itself. The flow was described by Scott Chacon, co-founder of GitHub, in a blog post in 2011, highlighting its benefits for small teams and startups.
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