GitHub Flow

About

GitHub Flow is a lightweight, branch-based workflow designed for teams practicing continuous delivery or continuous deployment. It focuses on:

• Keeping the main branch always deployable

• Creating feature branches for new work

• Using pull requests for code review

• Releasing code to production as soon as it's ready

It is ideal for cloud-native teams, fast-paced product development, and teams that push code multiple times per day.

Core Principles

1. Main is always deployable

   • The main branch must always be stable and production-ready.

2. Create branches off main

   • Every new feature, bugfix, or experiment starts from main in a dedicated branch (e.g., feature/add-login).

3. Open a pull request early

   • Developers open a pull request (PR) as soon as they push code to facilitate early discussion and feedback.

4. Continuous feedback and testing

   • Automated tests, linters, and CI checks run against the pull request.

   • Team reviews the PR before merging.

5. Deploy after merge

   • Once reviewed and approved, the branch is merged into main, and the change is deployed.

6. Quick iterations

   • Changes are small, atomic, and deployed frequently.

Comparison with Other Workflows

Workflow	Key Branches	Release Style	Use Case
Git Flow	main, develop, etc.	Scheduled releases	Suits large products with infrequent releases
GitHub Flow	main only (plus short-lived branches)	Continuous delivery	Ideal for cloud-based and SaaS products
Trunk-Based Dev	main with optional short-lived branches	Continuous delivery	Large teams, fast delivery, monorepos

GitHub Flow simplifies the branching model for teams that prioritize speed and simplicity over complex release management.

Workflow Steps

Step 1: Create a New Branch

git checkout -b feature/improve-login main

• Branch naming should be descriptive: feature/..., bugfix/..., hotfix/....

Step 2: Commit Regularly

git add .
git commit -m "Improve login UX by adding spinner"

• Keep commits atomic, testable, and meaningful.

Step 3: Push and Open a PR

git push origin feature/improve-login

• Go to GitHub and open a Pull Request (PR).

• Explain what the change is and why it’s needed.

• Request reviews from team members.

Step 4: Collaborate and Review

• Discuss changes in the PR.

• Apply suggestions and push additional commits.

• Automated CI runs (tests, static analysis, etc.).

Step 5: Merge When Ready

• Once approved and passing CI, merge to main (usually via "Squash and merge").

• Keep the commit history clean.

Step 6: Deploy Immediately or via Automation

• Optionally, use GitHub Actions to auto-deploy on merge.

• Monitor the release for issues.

Best Practices

• Always branch from main to stay up to date.

• Keep branches short-lived — a few hours to 1–2 days.

• Automate CI checks: test coverage, formatting, security scans.

• Write clear PR descriptions with context and screenshots if needed.

• Enable branch protection rules to enforce:

  • PR reviews

  • Passing CI

  • Commit message standards

• Squash merge for clean history.

When to use GitHub Flow and when not to ?

Criteria	When to Use GitHub Flow	When Not to Use GitHub Flow
Team Size	Small to medium-sized teams that can collaborate quickly and review each other's work often.	Very large teams working on complex or monolithic applications with multiple stakeholders and release cycles.
Release Frequency	Teams deploying daily or multiple times per day, using Continuous Delivery or Continuous Deployment.	Teams following a scheduled release cycle (e.g., quarterly or monthly releases) or needing long QA/testing phases.
Codebase Type	Ideal for web apps, APIs, and microservices where fast iteration and rollback is easy.	Not ideal for embedded systems, firmware, or critical infrastructure where changes must be thoroughly tested before integration.
Branching Complexity	Prefer minimal branching with short-lived feature branches.	Projects that need develop, release, hotfix branches or long-lived feature branches (e.g., Git Flow).
Testing Maturity	Teams with automated testing and CI/CD pipelines in place.	Teams relying heavily on manual testing or post-merge QA.
Deployment Infrastructure	Supports automated deployment pipelines (e.g., GitHub Actions, Jenkins, CircleCI) with ability to roll out quickly.	Manual deployments or environments where deployment is infrequent, slow, or involves approval gates.
Developer Workflow	Developers can work independently on features, push changes frequently, and merge once reviewed.	Workflows needing strict change management, release gates, or signoffs from multiple departments.
Environment Requirements	Works well in setups with fewer environments (dev → staging → prod), especially when prod can be updated at will.	Not suitable where multiple release environments (QA, UAT, pre-prod) are tightly controlled or if prod updates are delayed.
Risk Tolerance	Suitable for low to moderate risk applications where issues can be rolled back or hotfixed quickly.	High-risk domains like finance, healthcare, aerospace where code must be stable and auditable before deployment.
Feature Isolation	Great when feature flags or toggles are used to control what’s visible to users.	Hard to use if features cannot be hidden or isolated after merging to main.
Tooling Support	Strong integration with GitHub, GitHub Actions, and other modern developer tools.	May require adaptation if you're using Bitbucket, GitLab, or enterprise tools with more advanced branching needs.
Code Review Culture	Encourages frequent peer reviews via pull requests, ideal for collaborative teams.	Less suitable where reviews are formal or happen only at certain release milestones.