Git Workflow Designer Skill

Overview

This skill helps you design and implement effective Git branching strategies for teams of any size. Covers Git Flow, GitHub Flow, trunk-based development, release management, and branch protection policies.

Workflow Selection Philosophy

Key Factors

1. Team size: Solo vs. small team vs. large organization
2. Release frequency: Continuous vs. scheduled releases
3. Environment complexity: Single vs. multiple deployment targets
4. Risk tolerance: Move fast vs. stability first

Workflow Comparison

Workflow	Best For	Release Frequency	Complexity
Trunk-Based	Small teams, CI/CD	Continuous	Low
GitHub Flow	Most web apps	On-demand	Low
Git Flow	Versioned software	Scheduled	High
GitLab Flow	Environment-based	Mixed	Medium

GitHub Flow (Recommended for Most)

Overview

Simple, effective workflow for continuous deployment.

main ─────●─────●─────●─────●─────●─────●
            \       /   \       /
feature/x    ●─────●     ●─────●

Process

1. Branch from main

   git checkout main
   git pull origin main
   git checkout -b feature/user-authentication
   

2. Commit regularly

   git add .
   git commit -m "feat: add login form component"
   

3. Push and create PR

   git push -u origin feature/user-authentication
   gh pr create --title "Add user authentication" --body "..."
   

4. Review and merge

   • CI runs tests
   • Peer review
   • Squash merge to main

5. Deploy

   • Automatic deploy on merge to main

Branch Naming Convention

feature/  - New features
fix/      - Bug fixes
docs/     - Documentation
refactor/ - Code refactoring
test/     - Test additions
chore/    - Maintenance tasks

Configuration

# .github/branch-protection.yml (pseudo-config)
main:
  required_status_checks:
    strict: true
    contexts:
      - "ci/tests"
      - "ci/lint"
      - "ci/build"
  required_pull_request_reviews:
    required_approving_review_count: 1
    dismiss_stale_reviews: true
  enforce_admins: false
  restrictions: null

Git Flow (For Versioned Releases)

Overview

Structured workflow for scheduled release cycles.

main     ─────●─────────────────●─────────────●
               \               /               \
release         ●─────●─────●─                  ●───
                 \     \   /                   /
develop   ●─────●─●─────●─●─────●─────●─────●─●
            \   /   \       /     \       /
feature      ●─●     ●─────●       ●─────●

Branches

Branch	Purpose	Merges To
main	Production-ready code	-
develop	Integration branch	main
feature/*	New features	develop
release/*	Release preparation	main, develop
hotfix/*	Emergency fixes	main, develop

Feature Development

# Start feature
git checkout develop
git pull origin develop
git checkout -b feature/new-dashboard

# Work on feature
git commit -m "feat: add dashboard layout"
git commit -m "feat: add dashboard charts"

# Complete feature
git checkout develop
git merge --no-ff feature/new-dashboard
git branch -d feature/new-dashboard
git push origin develop

Release Process

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

# Bump version
npm version 1.2.0 --no-git-tag-version
git commit -am "chore: bump version to 1.2.0"

# Fix release issues
git commit -m "fix: correct typo in release notes"

# Complete release
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

git checkout develop
git merge --no-ff release/1.2.0
git push origin develop

git branch -d release/1.2.0

Hotfix Process

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

# Fix the issue
git commit -m "fix: critical security vulnerability"

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

git checkout develop
git merge --no-ff hotfix/1.2.1
git push origin develop

git branch -d hotfix/1.2.1

Trunk-Based Development

Overview

Everyone commits to main with short-lived branches.

main ─●─●─●─●─●─●─●─●─●─●─●─●─●─●─●─●
        \─/   \─/       \─/
        PR    PR        PR

Principles

1. Short-lived branches (< 1 day)
2. Small, frequent commits
3. Feature flags for incomplete work
4. Comprehensive CI/CD

Feature Flags Integration

// src/lib/features.ts
export const features = {
  newCheckout: process.env.FEATURE_NEW_CHECKOUT === 'true',
  darkMode: process.env.FEATURE_DARK_MODE === 'true',
};

// Usage
if (features.newCheckout) {
  return <NewCheckout />;
}
return <OldCheckout />;

Branch Rules

# Quick feature (< 4 hours)
git checkout main
git pull
git checkout -b quick/fix-typo
# ... work ...
git push -u origin quick/fix-typo
gh pr create --title "Fix typo" --body ""
# Merge immediately after CI passes

Release Management

Semantic Versioning

MAJOR.MINOR.PATCH

1.0.0 - Initial release
1.1.0 - New feature (backwards compatible)
1.1.1 - Bug fix
2.0.0 - Breaking change

Automated Version Bumping

// package.json
{
  "scripts": {
    "release:patch": "npm version patch && git push --follow-tags",
    "release:minor": "npm version minor && git push --follow-tags",
    "release:major": "npm version major && git push --follow-tags"
  }
}

Changelog Generation

# .github/workflows/release.yml
name: Release

on:
  push:
    tags:
      - 'v*'

jobs:
  release:
    runs-on: ubuntu-latest
    steps:
      - uses: actions/checkout@v4
        with:
          fetch-depth: 0

      - name: Generate changelog
        id: changelog
        uses: metcalfc/changelog-generator@v4
        with:
          myToken: ${{ secrets.GITHUB_TOKEN }}

      - name: Create Release
        uses: actions/create-release@v1
        env:
          GITHUB_TOKEN: ${{ secrets.GITHUB_TOKEN }}
        with:
          tag_name: ${{ github.ref }}
          release_name: Release ${{ github.ref }}
          body: ${{ steps.changelog.outputs.changelog }}

Conventional Commits

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

[optional body]

[optional footer(s)]

# Types
feat:     New feature
fix:      Bug fix
docs:     Documentation
style:    Formatting, no code change
refactor: Refactoring
test:     Tests
chore:    Maintenance

# Examples
feat(auth): add password reset flow
fix(api): handle null user gracefully
docs: update README with new API endpoints
chore(deps): update dependencies

Commitlint Configuration

// commitlint.config.js
module.exports = {
  extends: ['@commitlint/config-conventional'],
  rules: {
    'type-enum': [
      2,
      'always',
      [
        'feat',
        'fix',
        'docs',
        'style',
        'refactor',
        'test',
        'chore',
        'perf',
        'ci',
        'build',
        'revert',
      ],
    ],
    'subject-case': [2, 'always', 'lower-case'],
    'header-max-length': [2, 'always', 72],
  },
};

Branch Protection

GitHub Branch Protection Rules

# Recommended settings for main branch

Required status checks:
  - ci/test
  - ci/lint
  - ci/build
  - ci/typecheck

Required reviews: 1
Dismiss stale reviews: true
Require review from code owners: true

Require signed commits: false  # Optional
Require linear history: true   # Encourages squash/rebase

Include administrators: false  # Allow admins to bypass

Restrict who can push:
  - Maintainers only

CODEOWNERS

# .github/CODEOWNERS

# Default owners
* @team-lead

# Frontend
/src/components/ @frontend-team
/src/app/ @frontend-team

# Backend
/src/api/ @backend-team
/src/lib/db/ @backend-team

# Infrastructure
/.github/ @devops-team
/docker/ @devops-team

# Docs
/docs/ @tech-writer
*.md @tech-writer

Merge Strategies

Squash and Merge (Recommended)

# Clean history, one commit per feature
git merge --squash feature/branch
git commit -m "feat: complete feature description"

Pros:

• Clean main history
• Easy to revert features
• Commit message can be edited

Cons:

• Loses individual commit history

Rebase and Merge

# Linear history, preserves commits
git rebase main feature/branch
git checkout main
git merge feature/branch

Pros:

• Linear history
• Preserves individual commits
• Bisect-friendly

Cons:

• Requires clean commits
• Force push may be needed

Merge Commit

# Preserves full history with merge points
git merge --no-ff feature/branch

Pros:

• Complete history preserved
• Clear merge points
• No force push needed

Cons:

• Noisy history
• Harder to navigate

Common Scenarios

Sync Feature Branch with Main

# Option 1: Rebase (clean history)
git checkout feature/my-feature
git fetch origin
git rebase origin/main
git push --force-with-lease

# Option 2: Merge (safe, but noisy)
git checkout feature/my-feature
git merge origin/main
git push

Undo Last Commit (Not Pushed)

# Keep changes staged
git reset --soft HEAD~1

# Keep changes unstaged
git reset HEAD~1

# Discard changes
git reset --hard HEAD~1

Fix Commit Message

# Last commit only
git commit --amend -m "new message"

# Older commits (interactive rebase)
git rebase -i HEAD~3
# Change 'pick' to 'reword' for target commit

Cherry-Pick Specific Commit

# Apply specific commit to current branch
git cherry-pick abc123

# Cherry-pick without committing
git cherry-pick --no-commit abc123

Recover Deleted Branch

# Find the commit
git reflog

# Recreate branch
git checkout -b recovered-branch abc123

Workflow Scripts

Git Aliases

# ~/.gitconfig
[alias]
    # Status
    s = status -sb

    # Branching
    co = checkout
    cob = checkout -b
    br = branch -vv

    # Commits
    cm = commit -m
    ca = commit --amend --no-edit

    # Logging
    lg = log --oneline --graph --decorate -20
    lga = log --oneline --graph --decorate --all -20

    # Sync
    sync = !git fetch origin && git rebase origin/main

    # Cleanup
    cleanup = !git branch --merged | grep -v main | xargs git branch -d

    # Undo
    undo = reset --soft HEAD~1

Feature Branch Script

#!/bin/bash
# scripts/feature.sh

set -e

BRANCH_TYPE=${1:-feature}
BRANCH_NAME=$2

if [ -z "$BRANCH_NAME" ]; then
    echo "Usage: ./scripts/feature.sh [type] <name>"
    echo "Types: feature, fix, docs, chore"
    exit 1
fi

FULL_BRANCH="$BRANCH_TYPE/$BRANCH_NAME"

echo "Creating branch: $FULL_BRANCH"

git checkout main
git pull origin main
git checkout -b "$FULL_BRANCH"

echo "Branch '$FULL_BRANCH' created and checked out"
echo "Run: git push -u origin $FULL_BRANCH"

Workflow Checklist

Before Selecting Workflow

• [ ] Understand team size and distribution
• [ ] Define release frequency
• [ ] Assess CI/CD maturity
• [ ] Consider deployment environments

Implementation

• [ ] Document workflow in CONTRIBUTING.md
• [ ] Configure branch protection rules
• [ ] Set up CODEOWNERS
• [ ] Configure merge strategy
• [ ] Add commit message linting
• [ ] Create Git aliases/scripts

Maintenance

• [ ] Regular branch cleanup
• [ ] Monitor merge queue
• [ ] Review and update protection rules
• [ ] Train new team members

When to Use This Skill

Invoke this skill when:

• Starting a new project and choosing a workflow
• Scaling from solo to team development
• Improving release management
• Setting up branch protection rules
• Creating contribution guidelines
• Resolving Git workflow conflicts
• Implementing conventional commits