Stop 03 · Git & GitHubTopics · 4/11

Branch

In short

Branches let you build a new feature without touching the code that's already live. Every serious team works this way, so get comfortable early.

A lightweight, movable pointer to a line of commits — branches let you develop features, fixes and experiments in isolation from `main`.

The mascot pulls a railway lever next to a toy train on the tracks.

Think of it like this

The railway junction

At a junction, the pointsman pulls a lever and a train moves onto a side track. The main line keeps running as usual. Your feature branch is that side track: you can test freely, then join the main line when ready.

Watch it happen

A branch is just a moving pointer

main

feature/login

HEAD

at commit C3

1/5main points to commit C3. Production code is built from here.

The big ideas

What you need to know

Branches are cheap

A branch is a tiny file holding one commit hash. Creating one is instant, so make one per feature or bug.

Keep main deployable

Never work directly on main in a team. Branch, finish, review, then merge.

Name them clearly

feature/order-api, fix/login-500, chore/update-deps. Anyone can guess what's inside.

switch, not checkout

git switch is the modern command for changing branches. git checkout still works but does too many jobs.

See it in code

Walk through the code

bash

1git branch                     # list local branches2git switch -c feature/login    # create and move to it3 4# ...edit, add, commit...5git commit -am "Add POST /login"6 7git switch main                # back to main8git branch -d feature/login    # delete after it is merged9git push -u origin feature/order-api  # share a branch

1/4See your branches, then create feature/login and switch to it in one step.

-u links your local branch to the remote one, so later you can just type git push and git pull.

Save yourself the pain

Common mistakes

Oops

Coding for a week on main, then trying to split it into features later.

Do this instead

Create the branch before you write the first line of a feature. It takes two seconds.

Oops

Keeping one feature branch alive for a month.

Do this instead

Keep branches short, a few days. The longer they live, the worse the merge conflicts get.

Your mission

Two features, two tracks

~15 min

Quick check

You create a branch and make 3 commits on it. What happens to main?

Go deeper

1Create a feature branch, make a commit, then switch back to `main`.
2Learn the difference between `git branch` and `git switch -c`.
3Practice deleting merged branches to keep your repo tidy.