Git Workflows That Actually Work: From Solo to Team

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# The entire workflow
git checkout main
git pull
# make changes
git add .
git commit -m "Add user search feature"
git push

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# Feature flags for trunk-based
from config import features

def get_users():
    users = fetch_all_users()
    
    if features.is_enabled('user_search'):
        users = apply_search_filter(users)
    
    return users

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# Start a feature
git checkout main
git pull
git checkout -b feature/user-search

# Work on it
git add .
git commit -m "Add search endpoint"
git push -u origin feature/user-search

# Open PR, get review, merge to main
# Deploy main automatically

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feature/user-search      # New feature
fix/login-timeout        # Bug fix
hotfix/security-patch    # Urgent fix
docs/api-reference       # Documentation
refactor/auth-module     # Code cleanup

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## What
Brief description of changes

## Why
Context and motivation

## Testing
- [ ] Unit tests pass
- [ ] Manual testing done
- [ ] No console errors

## Screenshots
If applicable

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main        # Production code, tagged releases
develop     # Integration branch, next release
feature/*   # New features, branch from develop
release/*   # Release prep, branch from develop
hotfix/*    # Emergency fixes, branch from main

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git checkout develop
git pull
git checkout -b feature/user-search

# Work...
git add .
git commit -m "Add search"

# Merge back to develop
git checkout develop
git merge --no-ff feature/user-search
git push
git branch -d feature/user-search

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# Branch from develop
git checkout develop
git checkout -b release/1.2.0

# Bump version, final fixes
echo "1.2.0" > VERSION
git commit -am "Bump version to 1.2.0"

# Merge to main and tag
git checkout main
git merge --no-ff release/1.2.0
git tag -a v1.2.0 -m "Release 1.2.0"
git push origin main --tags

# Merge back to develop
git checkout develop
git merge --no-ff release/1.2.0
git push

git branch -d release/1.2.0

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# Branch from main
git checkout main
git checkout -b hotfix/security-fix

# Fix the issue
git commit -am "Fix XSS vulnerability"

# Merge to main
git checkout main
git merge --no-ff hotfix/security-fix
git tag -a v1.2.1 -m "Hotfix 1.2.1"
git push origin main --tags

# Also merge to develop
git checkout develop
git merge --no-ff hotfix/security-fix
git push

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# Bad
git commit -m "fix"
git commit -m "update"
git commit -m "WIP"

# Good
git commit -m "Fix null pointer in user search when query is empty"
git commit -m "Add pagination to /api/users endpoint"
git commit -m "Refactor auth middleware for better testability"

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

# Examples
feat(auth): add OAuth2 login support
fix(api): handle empty search queries gracefully
docs(readme): update installation instructions
refactor(db): extract connection pooling logic
test(users): add integration tests for search
chore(deps): update axios to 1.6.0

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# Install standard-version
npm install -g standard-version

# Generate changelog and bump version
standard-version

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# .github/settings.yml (with probot/settings)
branches:
  - name: main
    protection:
      required_status_checks:
        strict: true
        contexts:
          - ci/tests
          - ci/lint
      required_pull_request_reviews:
        required_approving_review_count: 1
        dismiss_stale_reviews: true
      enforce_admins: true
      restrictions: null

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git checkout main
git merge feature/user-search
# Creates merge commit, preserves branch history

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git checkout feature/user-search
git rebase main
git checkout main
git merge feature/user-search  # Fast-forward
# Linear history, as if changes were made sequentially

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git checkout main
git merge --squash feature/user-search
git commit -m "Add user search feature"
# All feature commits become one on main

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# During rebase
git rebase main
# CONFLICT in file.py

# Fix the conflict
vim file.py
git add file.py
git rebase --continue

# If it's a mess, abort
git rebase --abort

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# Rebase onto main frequently
git fetch origin
git rebase origin/main

# Before opening PR
git checkout main
git pull
git checkout feature/my-feature
git rebase main
git push --force-with-lease  # Safe force push

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# .git/hooks/pre-commit
#!/bin/bash
npm run lint
npm run test:unit

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// package.json
{
  "husky": {
    "hooks": {
      "pre-commit": "npm run lint",
      "commit-msg": "commitlint -E HUSKY_GIT_PARAMS"
    }
  }
}

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# GitHub Flow with squash merge
# - main is always deployable
# - Feature branches are short-lived (<1 week)
# - PRs require 1 review
# - Squash merge to keep main clean
# - Deploy on merge to main