This document introduces Git Flow, a Git branching model that provides high-level repository operations. It outlines the main branches - master for production, develop for development, and supporting branches like feature, release, and hotfix. Git Flow is a collection of Git extensions that help initialize and manage branches through commands like git flow feature and git flow release. The model forms an easy to understand mental model for teams to share in their branching and releasing processes.

1. Git Flow Introduction
David Paluy
August 2012

2. Branches
A successful Git branching model

3. Master Branch
origin/master to be the main branch where
the source code of HEAD always reflects a
production-ready state.
All of the changes should be merged back into
master somehow and then tagged with a
release number.

4. Develop Branch
origin/develop to be the main branch where
the source code of HEAD always reflects a
state with the latest delivered development
changes for the next release. Some would call
this the “integration branch”. This is where any
automatic nightly builds are built from.
Each time when changes are merged back
into master, this is a new production release
by definition.

5. Supporting branches
● Feature branches
● Release branches
● Hotfix branches

6. Feature branches
● May branch off from: develop
● Must merge back into: develop
● Branch naming convention: anything except
master, develop, release-*, or hotfix-*
● Used to develop new features for the
upcoming or a distant future release

7. Release branches
● May branch off from: develop
● Must merge back into: develop and master
● Branch naming convention: release-*
● Release branches support preparation of a
new production release. They allow for minor
bug fixes and preparing meta-data for a
release (version number, build dates, etc.)
● By doing all of this work on a release branch,
the develop branch is cleared to receive
features for the next big release.

8. Hotfix branches
● May branch off from:
master
● Must merge back into:
develop and master
● Branch naming
convention: hotfix-*

9. Gitflow
A collection of Git extensions to provide high-
level repository operations
https://github.com/nvie/gitflow

10. Initialize basic branch structure
git flow init [-d]
The -d flag will accept all defaults.

11. List / Start / Finish feature branches
git flow feature
git flow feature start <name>
git flow feature finish <name>
Push / Pull feature branches
git flow feature publish <name>
git flow feature pull <remote> <name>

12. List / Start / Finish release branches
git flow release
git flow release start <release>
git flow release finish <release>

13. List / Start / Finish hotfix branches
git flow hotfix
git flow hotfix start <release>
git flow hotfix finish <release>

14. Summary

15. Summary
It forms an elegant mental model that is easy
to comprehend and allows team members
to develop a shared understanding of the
branching and releasing processes.