Use two branches to record the history of a project.

  1. main: the official release history, tagged with version number
  2. develop: integration branch for features

Use Feature Branches that checkout from develop

git checkout develop
git checkout -b feature_branch

When done with development on the feature, merge the feature branch back into develop

git checkout deveop
git merge feature_branch
git push 
git branch -d feature_branch

Once develop is ready to release into main create a release branch

git checkout develop
git checkout -b release/0.1.0
git checkout main
git merge release/0.1.0

Tag the release

git tag v0.1.0
git push origin v0.1.0

Maintenance or Hotfix branches are used to quickly patch a production release.

git checkout main
git checkout -b hotfix_branch

Once the hotfix work is done, merge the hotfix into both main and develop

git checkout main
git merge hotfix_branch
git push
git checkout develop
git merge hotfix_branch
git push
git branch -d hotfix_branch

References:

  • https://www.atlassian.com/git/tutorials/comparing-workflows/gitflow-workflow