git-workflow-and-versioning

Git Workflow and Versioning

Overview

Git is your safety net. Treat commits as save points, branches as sandboxes, and history as documentation. With AI agents generating code at high speed, disciplined version control is the mechanism that keeps changes manageable, reviewable, and reversible.

When to Use

Always. Every code change flows through git.

Core Principles

Trunk-Based Development (Recommended)

Keep main always deployable. Work in short-lived feature branches that merge back within 1-3 days. Long-lived development branches are hidden costs — they diverge, create merge conflicts, and delay integration. DORA research consistently shows trunk-based development correlates with high-performing engineering teams.

main ──●──●──●──●──●──●──●──●──●──  (always deployable)
        ╲      ╱  ╲    ╱
         ●──●─╱    ●──╱    ← short-lived feature branches (1-3 days)

This is the recommended default. Teams using gitflow or long-lived branches can adapt the principles (atomic commits, small changes, descriptive messages) to their branching model — the commit discipline matters more than the specific branching strategy.

• Dev branches are costs. Every day a branch lives, it accumulates merge risk.
• Release branches are acceptable. When you need to stabilize a release while main moves forward.
• Feature flags > long branches. Prefer deploying incomplete work behind flags (IOptions<FeatureOptions>) rather than keeping it on a branch for weeks.

1. Commit Early, Commit Often

Each successful increment gets its own commit. Don't accumulate large uncommitted changes.

Work pattern:
  Implement slice → dotnet test → Verify → Commit → Next slice

Not this:
  Implement everything → Hope it works → Giant commit

Commits are save points. If the next change breaks something, you can revert to the last known-good state instantly.