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branch

Also called: branches

A named, movable line of commits: a parallel version of the project where work happens without touching the main branch.

A branch lets someone work on a change without disturbing everyone else. It starts from a commit on the main branch and collects new commits of its own. When the work is ready, the branch is merged back, usually through a pull request. Branch names often describe the work: fix/checkout-button, feature/subscription.

Learn it in the course

  • Git branches: parallel versions of the project · What a Git branch is, why work happens on short-lived branches next to main, and how to read branches on GitHub: the branch selector, ahead and behind, stale branches, naming conventions and graphs with several lanes.
  • Merge conflicts on GitHub: why they happen and what to do · What a merge conflict on GitHub is and why two branches can clash on the same line, what "This branch has conflicts that must be resolved" means, how to read conflict markers and resolve a simple conflict in the browser, and why choosing the right text is a product decision.
  • Git flow: develop, release and hotfix branches · The release-oriented branching model: long-lived main and develop, feature branches, a release branch for each version, hotfix branches, and tags on main. When it fits (app store releases, several supported versions), why many web teams moved to GitHub flow or trunk-based development, and how to recognise each model from a branch list.
  • Merging on GitHub: merge commit, squash and merge, rebase · What merging does, the three options behind GitHub's merge button (merge commit, squash and merge, rebase and merge) and what each leaves in the history, a fast-forward merge in plain words, and how to check whether a change is really in main.
  • Icons, colours and checks: what every GitHub state means · Read pull request status, issues, GitHub checks, reviews, labels and the merge box at a glance: what every icon and colour means, merged vs closed, and how to tell states apart by shape and text, not colour alone.