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Git Best Practices

This page provides essential Git best practices to help teams avoid merge conflicts, enhance collaboration, and maintain code quality, ensuring a smoother and more efficient workflow.

Use Branching Strategy

Implement a well-defined branching strategy to enhance collaboration and maintain code quality in Git.

  • Select a branching model that aligns with your team's workflow and project requirements. Popular models like GitFlow, GitHub Flow, and Trunk-Based Development offer different approaches suited for various scenarios.

  • Create different feature branches from the Staging branch and merge them into Staging regularly through pull requests.

  • Create a Staging branch for testing features. Once a milestone is completed, merge the Staging branch into the master branch via a pull request.

  • Reserve the master branch for production-ready code. Only merge thoroughly tested and reviewed changes into this branch to ensure stability.

  • To prevent accidental commits, make the master branch protected from Git settings.

  • For large-scale deployment, it is recommended to use a multi-instance setup. For more information, see Multi environments using Git.

  • If you have configured a multi-instance setup, manually pull the master branch in the Production instance to deploy changes. If you are an enterprise user, set up Git CD to automatically pull and deploy the master branch.

  • Keep branches and pull requests short-lived to streamline the development process and minimize conflicts.

Avoid Merge Conflicts

While working with Git, you may face merge conflicts. To avoid these conflicts, follow these best practices:

  • Break down changes into small, self-contained updates that address a single concern. Each commit should represent a single logical change or fix.

  • Multiple developers should avoid making changes to the same UI elements on the same page, even if they are working on different branches

  • Pull changes frequently to incorporate updates from the remote repository into your local branch.

  • Merge changes from the master branch regularly into the feature branch to keep it updated with the latest developments. You can do this by clicking on the Merge icon at the bottom left and merging changes from the master branch to the feature branch.

  • Divide work among developers so each person is responsible for different parts of the app to avoid overlap and conflicts.

  • Communicate with your teammates before making any changes to ensure coordination.

For more information, see Resolve Merge Conflicts in Git.