Gitflow Workflow

Gitflow is a robust branching model designed for projects with scheduled releases. It provides a strict framework for managing features, releases, and hotfixes.

Overview

Gitflow uses multiple long-running branches:

        hotfix
           ↓
main  ────●────────────●────────────●────
          ↑            ↑            ↑
          │            │            │
release   │      ●──●──┘            │
          ↑      ↑                  │
          │      │                  │
develop ──●──●───●──●──●────────●───┘
             ↑      ↑           ↑
             │      │           │
feature      ●──●   ●──●──●     │

Branch Types

Branch	Purpose	Lifetime
main	Production code	Permanent
develop	Integration branch	Permanent
feature/*	New features	Temporary
release/*	Release preparation	Temporary
hotfix/*	Production fixes	Temporary

Main Branches

main (or master)

• Always reflects production state
• Only receives merges from release and hotfix
• Every merge is tagged with a version

develop

• Main integration branch
• Reflects latest development changes
• Features merge here
• Branches off from main initially

Supporting Branches

Feature Branches

Branch from: develop Merge into: develop

# Create feature branch
git checkout develop
git checkout -b feature/user-profile

# Work on feature
git commit -m "Add profile page"
git commit -m "Add avatar upload"

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

Release Branches

Branch from: develop Merge into: develop and main

# Start release
git checkout develop
git checkout -b release/1.2.0

# Only bug fixes allowed here
git commit -m "Fix typo in error message"
git commit -m "Update version number"

# Finish release
git checkout main
git merge --no-ff release/1.2.0
git tag -a v1.2.0 -m "Release 1.2.0"

git checkout develop
git merge --no-ff release/1.2.0
git branch -d release/1.2.0

Hotfix Branches

Branch from: main Merge into: develop and main

# Start hotfix
git checkout main
git checkout -b hotfix/1.2.1

# Fix the issue
git commit -m "Fix critical security bug"

# Finish hotfix
git checkout main
git merge --no-ff hotfix/1.2.1
git tag -a v1.2.1 -m "Hotfix 1.2.1"

git checkout develop
git merge --no-ff hotfix/1.2.1
git branch -d hotfix/1.2.1

The Complete Flow

Starting a Project

# Initialize with main
git init
git commit --allow-empty -m "Initial commit"

# Create develop from main
git checkout -b develop
git push -u origin develop

Daily Development

1. Create feature branch from develop
2. Develop and commit
3. Merge back to develop
4. Delete feature branch

Preparing a Release

1. Create release branch from develop
2. Bug fixes only (no new features)
3. Update version numbers
4. Merge to main and tag
5. Merge back to develop
6. Delete release branch

Emergency Fix

1. Create hotfix branch from main
2. Fix the issue
3. Merge to main and tag
4. Merge to develop (or current release branch)
5. Delete hotfix branch

git-flow Tool

A tool to simplify Gitflow commands:

Installation

# macOS
brew install git-flow

# Ubuntu
apt-get install git-flow

# Windows
# Comes with Git for Windows

Usage

# Initialize
git flow init

# Feature
git flow feature start user-profile
git flow feature finish user-profile

# Release
git flow release start 1.2.0
git flow release finish 1.2.0

# Hotfix
git flow hotfix start 1.2.1
git flow hotfix finish 1.2.1

Gitflow vs Feature Branch

Gitflow	Feature Branch
Multiple long-running branches	Single main branch
Scheduled releases	Continuous deployment
More structured	More flexible
Release branches for prep	No release branches
Complex	Simple

When to Use Gitflow

Good For

• Products with scheduled releases
• Multiple versions in production
• Dedicated QA/release process
• Enterprise software
• Mobile apps with store reviews

Not Ideal For

• Continuous deployment
• Small teams/projects
• Web apps with frequent deploys
• Projects needing simplicity

Common Challenges

Merge Hell

Long-lived branches can diverge significantly:

Solution: Merge develop into feature branches frequently:

git checkout feature/big-feature
git merge develop

Complex for Small Teams

Full Gitflow might be overkill:

Solution: Simplified Gitflow

• Skip release branches for small releases
• Use main + develop + feature only

Hotfix Conflicts

Hotfix might conflict with current release:

Solution: Merge hotfix into release branch instead of develop if release is active.

Version Tagging

Always tag releases:

# Lightweight tag
git tag v1.2.0

# Annotated tag (recommended)
git tag -a v1.2.0 -m "Release version 1.2.0"

# Push tags
git push origin v1.2.0
# or all tags
git push origin --tags

Summary

• Gitflow uses main, develop, and supporting branches
• main is always production-ready
• develop is the integration branch
• Features branch from and merge to develop
• Releases prepare code for production
• Hotfixes go directly to main and back to develop
• Use git-flow tools to simplify commands
• Best for scheduled releases and complex projects

In the next lesson, we'll explore Trunk-Based Development—a simpler alternative.