Mastering Git Flow: A Developer’s Guide to Branching Strategies

What is Git Flow?
Git Flow is a popular branching strategy that helps manage the clean and organized development of applications. It was introduced by Vincent Driessen in 2010 to provide developers with a structured workflow using Git. Git Flow focuses on isolating different types of work (features, releases, hotfixes) to avoid dangerous conflicts and miscodes in applications.

Git Flow defines important branches, each with a specific purpose:

• Main (Master)
  The main (or master) branch always contains the production-ready version
  of the application.
  It must remain stable at all times. Only fully tested and approved code
  is merged into main, typically from a release or hotfix branch.

• Release
  The release branch is used for final testing and debugging before
  merging into main.
  It is created from the develop branch when the development of a new
  version is complete.
  Only bug fixes or final adjustments are made here. Once testing is
  complete, this branch is merged into both main and develop.

• Develop
  The develop branch acts as the integration branch for features under
  active development.
  All new feature branches are created from develop, and once completed,
  they are merged back into it.
  It always contains the latest development changes and serves as a base
  for creating release branches.

• Features
  A feature branch is used to develop a single feature, such as
  authentication or payment integration.
  Each feature should be isolated in its own branch to keep development
  focused and avoid conflicts.
  Once the feature is complete and tested, the branch is merged into
  develop and then deleted.

• Hotfix
  A hotfix branch is created when a critical issue needs to be fixed in
  production.
  It is branched off directly from the main, and after the fix, it is
  merged into both main and develop to ensure consistency.
  This allows urgent patches to be deployed without waiting for the next
  release cycle.

Why Git Flow?
Using Git Flow brings structure and clarity to the development process, helping teams manage features, fixes, and releases more efficiently—reducing errors, improving collaboration, and ensuring a smoother path from development to production.