Git Branching Concepts

Learning Objectives

Understand what Git branches are and why they are essential
Learn common branching strategies and their use cases
Understand branch terminology and concepts
Visualize how branches work in practice

What is a Branch?

A branch in Git is a lightweight movable pointer to a commit. It represents an independent line of development, allowing you to work on different features or fixes without affecting the main codebase.

Key Concepts

•Branches are references to specific commits
•The default branch is usually called 'main'
•Each branch maintains its own commit history
•Branches can be merged back together

Common Uses

•Developing new features
•Fixing bugs
•Experimenting with code
•Managing releases

Branch Visualization

See how branches work in practice with this interactive visualization:

main

feature

Click on any commit to view its details. The visualization shows how branches diverge and merge, with different colors representing different branches.

Common Branching Strategies

Feature Branch Workflow

Create a new branch for each feature or bug fix. Merge back to main when complete.

Feature Branch Workflow Example

# Each feature gets its own branch
# Time flows from left to right →
 
main     ●───●───●───────●───────●   # Main branch
           ╲           ╱
feature     ●───●───●   # Feature branch
             └── New feature development

GitFlow

A more structured approach with multiple branch types: main, develop, feature, release, and hotfix branches.

GitFlow Branching Strategy

# GitFlow uses multiple branch types
# Time flows from left to right →
 
main          ●─────────────●───────●   # Production code
              │             ↑       ↑
develop       ●──●──●──●──●│───────●   # Development branch
                    ↑     ↑│
feature1          ●──●     │           # Feature branches
                          │
feature2              ●───●            # Multiple features
                                      
hotfix                   ●─────●       # Quick fixes

Trunk-Based Development

Developers work directly on the main branch or use short-lived feature branches.

Trunk-Based Development Pattern

# Frequent merges to main branch
# Time flows from left to right →
 
main     ●───●───●───●───●───●───●     # Main/trunk branch
         │ ╱ │ ╱ │ ╱ │ ╱ │             # Quick merges
short1   ●   │   │   │   │             # Short-lived
         │   │   │   │   │             # feature branches
short2   │   ●   │   │   │
         │       │   │   │
short3   │       ●   │   │
         │           │   │
short4   │           ●   │             # Each branch lives
         │               │             # for a short time
short5   │               ●

Branch Best Practices

Keep Branches Focused
Each branch should represent a single feature, bug fix, or task.
Use Descriptive Names
Branch names should clearly indicate their purpose (e.g., feature/user-auth).
Regular Updates
Keep branches up to date with their parent branch to avoid complex merges.
Clean Up
Delete branches after they're merged to keep the repository clean.

What's Next?

Now that you understand branch concepts, in the next lesson you'll learn:

How to create and switch between branches
Basic branch management commands
How to delete and rename branches