How I found my preferably Git Flow

Posted on by Josanu Andrei

As a developer, taking on the role of a team leader was a significant step in my career. One of the first challenges I faced was designing a clear and efficient Git management process for the team. In this post, I’ll share my journey of discovering the Git flow that worked best for us, drawing from my own experiences and resources I found online.

The Need for a Git Strategy in Large WordPress Projects

When managing a large-scale WordPress project, having a well-defined Git branching strategy becomes crucial. WordPress websites often involve multiple features, custom plugins, and theme development, all while needing to ensure stability in the live environment. This complexity makes proper version control essential for maintaining high-quality code and delivering smooth updates without disrupting the website’s functionality.

In any collaborative development environment, especially with larger WordPress projects, proper Git branch management ensures that the workflow remains organized, with minimal conflicts between developers. Without a clear plan, version control can become chaotic, particularly as the team grows or the project requires frequent updates and maintenance.

Here are some of the most common Git branching strategies used in software development, and how they helped me decide on the best approach for my team:

1. Feature Branching

  • Purpose: Each feature is developed in its own isolated branch.
  • Usage: A separate branch is created for each new feature. This approach allows for parallel development, keeping features isolated until they’re fully developed and ready to be merged back into the main codebase.

2. Gitflow Workflow

  • Purpose: A structured approach for handling multiple releases, features, and hotfixes.
  • Usage: Gitflow uses two main branches—main (or master) and develop—along with supporting branches for features, releases, and hotfixes. In a large WordPress project, this separation allows for ongoing development of new features and updates while keeping the production site stable. It’s especially helpful when managing theme development and plugin updates that need to be staged before going live.

3. Forking Workflow

  • Purpose: Typically used in open-source projects.
  • Usage: In this workflow, developers fork the main repository and create branches in their own forks. They submit pull requests to merge changes back into the main repository. This ensures that contributors work independently, while maintaining a central codebase.

4. GitHub Flow

  • Purpose: A simplified alternative to Gitflow, focused on continuous delivery.
  • Usage: Developers create feature branches directly from the main branch, with the expectation that each merge into main is deployable. This flow is often used in projects with frequent releases or a strong focus on continuous integration and delivery (CI/CD).

5. Trunk-Based Development

  • Purpose: A fast-paced strategy centered on continuous integration.
  • Usage: In trunk-based development, developers frequently commit to the main or trunk branch. Feature branches are short-lived, with changes being rapidly integrated into the main codebase, minimizing long-lived branches and reducing the risk of merge conflicts.

6. Release Branching

  • Purpose: Separate the release process from ongoing development.
  • Usage: When a version is ready for release, a dedicated branch is created. Ongoing development can continue on other branches, while the release branch is stabilized, allowing for bug fixes and preparations for deployment.

7. Hotfix Branching

  • Purpose: Handle urgent fixes on production code.
  • Usage: Hotfix branches are created directly from the main or production-ready branch to resolve critical issues in live environments. Once the issue is fixed, the branch is merged back into both the main and develop branches to ensure the fix is incorporated into future releases.

8. Environment Branching

  • Purpose: Align branches with different deployment environments (e.g., staging, production).
  • Usage: In environment branching, specific branches are associated with various deployment stages. This allows code to move smoothly from development to staging and finally to production, ensuring quality at every stage.

Finding the Right Fit

In a large WordPress project, where different team members are working on various features simultaneously, managing multiple environments (staging, testing, and production) is critical. After exploring these strategies, I found that a combination of Gitflow and Feature Branching worked best for my team. The structured separation of development and production, combined with the flexibility to work on isolated features like custom plugins and themes, helped us maintain a smooth workflow while delivering stable, tested updates to the live site.

No matter which Git strategy you choose, the key is to ensure that it aligns with your team’s goals, project requirements, and the way you deliver value to your users. For large WordPress projects, having a reliable Git flow can make the difference between a seamless development process and one fraught with issues.

Atlassian – Comparing Git workflows: What you should know?