🌿 Git Feature Branching Strategy — Beginner-Friendly Hands-On Guide Using EC2 + HTML Project

#git #github #devops #tutorial

🎯 If you're a DevOps beginner or fresher learning Git workflows, this guide is for you. We’ll create a simple project and practice Feature Branching step-by-step on an Ubuntu-based EC2 instance.

🧰 What You’ll Learn:

How Feature Branching works
How to use Git to isolate feature development
How to merge cleanly into main
A real-world example using a simple HTML app

🖥️ Environment Setup

I'm running this on a Ubuntu EC2 instance that has Git installed.

You can follow along from:

EC2 or Your local machine
Git Bash or Linux terminal

📁 Step 1: Create a Project Directory

mkdir myshop-demo
cd myshop-demo

Create a basic index.html file:

<!DOCTYPE html>
<html>
<head>
    <title>MyShop Demo</title>
</head>
<body>
    <h1>Welcome to MyShop</h1>
    <p>Your favorite online store!</p>

    <div class="product">
        <h2>Product Name</h2>
        <p>$19.99</p>
        <button>Add to Cart</button>
    </div>
</body>
</html>

Save the file inside myshop-demo/.

🌿 Step 2: Initialize a Git Repository

git init

✅ Step 3: Add and Commit Initial Code

git add index.html
git commit -m "Initial commit - MyShop homepage"

🌱 Step 4: Create a Feature Branch

Let’s say we want to add a "Wishlist" button.

git checkout -b feature/add-to-wishlist

This creates a new branch for the feature — safely isolated from main.

✏️ Step 5: Make Your Feature Change

Edit index.html and add the Wishlist button after Add to Cart

<button>Add to Wishlist</button>

💾 Step 6: Save and Commit the Change

git add index.html
git commit -m "Added Add to Wishlist button"

🔁 Step 7: Merge Back to Main

Once your feature is done and tested:

git checkout main
git merge feature/add-to-wishlist

🎉 Feature successfully merged into production code!

🧠 What You Learned

✅ How to isolate features
✅ How to prevent breaking main
✅ How to merge safely after testing

📌 Why Use Feature Branching?

✅ Pros	🚫 Cons
Easy to manage individual features	Too many branches if not cleaned
Safe from breaking main	Might create merge conflicts if team doesn’t sync often
Perfect for small teams	Can slow down big, fast-moving teams