Branch (Git)
What Is a Branch?
In Git, a branch is a named line of development. It lets developers work on features, fixes, or experiments without immediately changing the main branch.
Why Branches Matter
Branches make it easier to:
- isolate work safely while development is still in progress,
- review changes before merge,
- support parallel work across multiple engineers or teams,
- protect stable branches such as
mainor release branches.
How Branches Are Used
A common workflow is:
- create a branch from
main, - make commits on that branch,
- open a pull request or merge request,
- merge the branch once checks and reviews pass.
Short-lived branches are usually easier to review and merge than long-running branches with large divergence.
Related Terms
Related Pages
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