branch-and-commit-methodology

Branch and Merging Strategy

Summary

We use the a branch and commit strategy that relies on many small commits that are then squashed into larger, explicitly described units of work before they are merged through the pull request mechanism.

Process

1. Developer clones the repository and wants to write code

2. Create a working feature branch for the work that is being done

   1. git checkout main

   2. git checkout working-<feature name>

3. As code is updated, make small commits for either clear units of change, or work in progress commits to capture unfinished work.

   1. git commit ...

4. Always push work from this working branch often, to ensure work is stored in the cloud and not lost

   1. git push -u origin <branch name> - the first time

   2. git push - every other time

5. Finish the feature or work that is being done

6. Now, create a new branch to be used to clean up the commit history

   1. git checkout -b finished-<feature name>

7. Clean up the the commit history using interactive rebase with squashing

   1. git rebase -i <base commit>

   2. Use pick or squash to combine commits

   3. Update the commit message so they follow the correct conventional commits format

8. Create a PR using the github cli

   1. gh pr create

9. Review the PR with other devs

10. Merge to main