A visual storyline is shown here.
The main branch contains tested prodcution ready code, releases are tagged on main.
Each sprint has its own branch
Eeach feature (and bugfix) has its own branch.
Branching is done from the main branch to the sprint branches, after coding and testing sprint branch is merged to main.
If you are the only developer it is oke to setup one sprint branch to work on sequentially, there is no need to setup separate feature branches
Basic Rules
1. Lowercase and hyphen-separated: Keep branch names in lowercase and separate words with hyphens. For example, use feature/booking-tool or bugfix/cookie-banner-refresh.
2. Alphanumeric characters: Use only alphanumeric characters (letters a-z, numbers 0–9) and hyphens. Do not use punctuation, spaces, underscores, or any other non-alphanumeric characters. Your input must conform to the following regex pattern: (feature|bugfix|hotfix|docs|chore)/[a-z0-9]+(-([a-z0-9])+)*[a-z0-9]+.
3. No consecutive hyphens: Do not use consecutive hyphens, feature--booking-tool can be confusing and hard to read.
4. No Trailing Hyphens: Ensure that your branch name does not end with a hyphen. For example, feature-booking-tool- is not considered a good practice.
5. Descriptive: Make sure the branch name is both descriptive and concise, ideally reflecting the work carried out on the branch
6. Ticket Numbers: When possible, include the ticket number from a project management tool like Jira or issue tracking system in the branch name.
Branch Prefixes
1. Feature Branches: Are used for developing new features. Use the prefix feature/. For example, feature/booking-tool.
2. Bugfix Branches: Are used to fix bugs in the code. Use the prefix bugfix/. For example, bugfix/double-cookiebanner-refresh.
3. Hotfix Branches: Are made directly from the main branch to fix critical bugs in the production environment. Use the prefix hotfix/. For example, hotfix/okta-issue.
4. Documentation Branches: Are used for writing, updating, or correcting documentation. Use the prefix docs/. For example, docs/okta-setup.
5. Chore Branches: Are used for maintenance tasks, build processes, or other non-user-facing changes. Use the prefix chore/. For example, chore/update-okta-dependencies.
Merging is preferred (merging "unless" policy)
These guidelines should not impede the handling of emergencies. Forced commits are allowed by exception only and branch(es) must be fixed at the firs available opportunity.