Managing Git

Feature Development Workflow

Copy this checklist and track progress:

Feature Development Progress:
- [ ] Step 1: Create feature branch from main
- [ ] Step 2: Make changes with atomic commits
- [ ] Step 3: Rebase on latest main
- [ ] Step 4: Push and create PR
- [ ] Step 5: Address review feedback
- [ ] Step 6: Merge after approval

Branching Strategies

GitHub Flow (Recommended for most projects)

main ──●────●────●────●────●── (always deployable)
        \          /
feature  └──●──●──┘

• main is always deployable
• Feature branches from main
• PR + review + merge
• Deploy after merge

Git Flow (For release-based projects)

main     ──●─────────────●────── (releases only)
            \           /
release      └────●────┘
                 /
develop  ──●──●────●──●──●──
            \     /
feature      └──●┘

Commit Conventions

Conventional Commits Format

<type>(<scope>): <description>

[optional body]

[optional footer(s)]

Types

Examples

feat(auth): add OAuth2 login support

Implements Google and GitHub OAuth providers.
Closes #123

BREAKING CHANGE: Session tokens now expire after 24h

fix(api): handle null response from payment gateway

Previously caused 500 error when gateway returned null.
Now returns appropriate error message to user.

Branch Naming

<type>/<ticket-id>-<short-description>

# Examples
feature/AUTH-123-oauth-login
fix/BUG-456-null-pointer
chore/TECH-789-upgrade-deps

Pull Request Workflow

Copy this checklist when creating PRs:

PR Checklist:
- [ ] Code follows project conventions
- [ ] Tests added/updated for changes
- [ ] All tests pass locally
- [ ] No merge conflicts with main
- [ ] Documentation updated if needed
- [ ] No security vulnerabilities introduced
- [ ] PR description explains the "why"

PR Template

## Summary
[Brief description of changes]

## Changes
- [Change 1]
- [Change 2]

## Testing
- [ ] Unit tests added/updated
- [ ] Manual testing performed
- [ ] E2E tests pass

## Screenshots (if UI changes)
[Before/After screenshots]

PR Size Guidelines

Common Git Commands

Daily Workflow

# Start new feature
git checkout main
git pull
git checkout -b feature/TICKET-123-description

# Commit changes
git add -p  # Stage interactively
git commit -m "feat: description"

# Keep up with main
git fetch origin main
git rebase origin/main

# Push and create PR
git push -u origin HEAD

Fixing Mistakes

# Amend last commit (before push)
git commit --amend

# Undo last commit (keep changes)
git reset --soft HEAD~1

# Undo last commit (discard changes)
git reset --hard HEAD~1

# Revert a pushed commit
git revert <commit-hash>

# Interactive rebase to clean up
git rebase -i HEAD~3

Advanced Operations

# Cherry-pick specific commit
git cherry-pick <commit-hash>

# Find which commit broke something
git bisect start
git bisect bad HEAD
git bisect good <known-good-commit>

# Stash with message
git stash push -m "WIP: feature description"
git stash list
git stash pop

Commit Validation

Before pushing, validate commits:

Commit Validation:
- [ ] Each commit has a clear, descriptive message
- [ ] Commit type matches the change (feat, fix, etc.)
- [ ] No WIP or temporary commits
- [ ] No secrets or credentials committed
- [ ] Changes are atomic (one logical change per commit)

If validation fails, use git rebase -i to clean up commit history before pushing.