GitFlow

GitFlow is a branching model designed by Vincent Driessen that provides a robust framework for managing releases. It defines a strict set of branches and rules for how they interact, making it well-suited for projects that ship versioned software on a regular cadence.

Why GitFlow?

Most Git workflows leave branching strategy up to the team. GitFlow removes that ambiguity by assigning a clear purpose to every branch:

• Parallel development — Feature branches isolate work-in-progress from stable code.
• Release stabilization — Release branches allow last-minute fixes without blocking new feature work.
• Emergency patches — Hotfix branches let you patch production without disturbing the current development cycle.

Branch Structure

GitFlow uses two long-lived branches and three types of short-lived branches:

Long-lived Branches

Branch	Purpose
main	Always reflects the latest production release. Every commit on main is a release.
develop	Integration branch for the next release. Feature branches merge here.

Short-lived Branches

Branch Type	Branches from	Merges into	Naming Convention
Feature	develop	develop	feature/<name>
Release	develop	main and develop	release/<version>
Hotfix	main	main and develop	hotfix/<name>

The GitFlow Lifecycle

1. Feature Development

When you start working on a new feature:

develop ─────────────────────── develop
          \                   /
           feature/login ────

1. Create a feature/ branch from develop.
2. Commit your changes on the feature branch.
3. When complete, merge back into develop and delete the feature branch.

2. Preparing a Release

When develop has enough features for a release:

develop ──────────────── develop
          \            /        \
           release/1.0 ──────── main (tag: v1.0)

1. Create a release/ branch from develop.
2. Only bug fixes, documentation, and release-oriented changes go here.
3. When ready, merge into both main (with a version tag) and back into develop.

3. Emergency Hotfixes

When a critical bug is found in production:

main ─────────── main (tag: v1.0.1)
      \        /       \
       hotfix/fix ───── develop

1. Create a hotfix/ branch from main.
2. Fix the issue and bump the patch version.
3. Merge into both main (with a tag) and develop.

When to Use GitFlow

GitFlow works best when:

• Your project ships named versions (v1.0, v2.0, etc.).
• You need to support multiple releases in parallel.
• Your team has a clear release cadence (weekly, monthly, etc.).
• You want a structured process that new team members can follow immediately.

GitFlow may be more than you need if you deploy continuously from main — in that case, GitHub Flow or trunk-based development might be simpler.

GitFlow in FlowForge

FlowForge automates the entire GitFlow lifecycle through its visual interface:

• Initialize — Sets up main, develop, and configures branch prefixes with a single click.
• Start — Creates feature, release, or hotfix branches with guided forms.
• Finish — Performs the correct merges, creates tags, and cleans up branches automatically.
• Review Checklist — An advisory checklist reminds you of pre-merge steps before finishing.

See Gitflow Workflow for a walkthrough of FlowForge's Gitflow features.