Best Practices for a Collaborative Git Workflow

Adopt standard branch strategies (such as Git Flow or Trunk-Based) to clarify the purpose of the branch and document it; 2. Keep the submissions small and focused, use clear imperative messages to explain the change logic; 3. Use PR for code review, assign reviewers early, associate work orders, control the amount of changes, and use templates; 4. Change base before merging or use "compression merge" to keep history clean; 5. Automate lint, testing, branch protection and other processes to reduce human errors; 6. Communicate in a timely manner, comment on PR, mark teammates, and avoid delays in helping - reduce collaborative friction through standardization, automation and transparent communication, improve quality and efficiency. The key is to maintain consistency and continuous improvement.

A solid collaborative Git workflow isn't just about using branches or writing good commit messages—it's about creating a predictable, transparent, and low-friction process that scales with your team. Whether you're working on a small feature or a large product with multiple developers, here are the best practices that make Git collaboration smooth and effective:

✅ 1. Use a Standard Branching Strategy (Like Git Flow or Trunk-Based)

Why it matters:
Without a shared branching model, teams end up with messy histories, merge conflicts, and unclear ownership.

What to do:

• Git Flow (for release-heavy projects):
  • main (or master ) → production-ready code
  • develop → integration branch for features
  • feature/* , release/* , hotfix/* → short-lived branches for specific work
• Trunk-Based Development (for CI/CD-heavy teams):
  • Everyone commits to main (or trunk ) frequently via small, atomic changes
  • Use feature flags to hide incomplete work

? Pick one and document it in your CONTRIBUTING.md .

✅ 2. Keep Commits Small, Focused, and Well-Described

Why it matters:
Large commits are hard to review, harder to revert, and often mix unrelated changes.

Tips:

• Each commit should represent one logical change (eg, “Add user login validation” not “Fix stuff”)
• Write clear, important commit messages:

   Fix login form validation for empty passwords

• Use the body to explain why if needed:

   Prevent empty passwords from bypassing client-side validation.
  This was causing backend errors when users submitted blank fields.

✅ 3. Leverage Pull Requests (PRs) for Code Review

Why it matters:
PRs are your team's quality gate—they encourage discussion, knowledge sharing, and catch bugs early.

Best practices:

• Assign reviewers early—not after you're “done”
• Link to related tickets (eg, “Closes #123”)
• Keep PRs small (ideally < 400 lines of diff)
• Use PR templates to standardize context (what, why, testing steps)

? Pro tip: If your PR grows too big, split it into multiple smaller ones—even if it means temporary feature flags.

✅ 4. Rebase Before Merging (or Use “Squash and Merge”)

Why it matters:
Clean history = easier debugging, better blow, and less noise.

Options:

• Rebase your feature branch onto main before PR:

   git checkout feature/my-feature
  git rebase main

  (Resolves conflicts early, keeps linear history)

• Use “Squash and Merge” in GitHub/GitLab:
  Combines all your commits into one clean one when merge—ideal for messy WIP commits

Avoid plain git merge unless you're merged a long-lived release branch.

✅ 5. Automate What You Can

Why it matters:
Manual checks are error-prone and slow down collaboration.

Automate:

• Linting and formatting (via pre-commit hooks or CI)
• Unit/integration tests on every PR
• Branch protection rules (eg, require approvals, status checks)
• Semantic versioning changelog generation (eg, with semantic-release )

This builds trust—you know every merge is safe.

✅ 6. Communication Early and Often

Git is collaborative software. If you're stuck, blocked, or unsure:

• Comment in the PR
• Tag teammates in commits or issues
• Don't wait until the last minute to ask for help

A healthy Git workflow is as much about people as it is about tools.

Bottom line:
The best Git workflows reduce friction, enforce quality, and scale with your team. Start simple—pick a branching model, enforce small PRs, automatic checks, and iterate. It's not about being perfect—it's about being consistent and improving together.

Basically, just don't force-push to main . ?

The above is the detailed content of Best Practices for a Collaborative Git Workflow. For more information, please follow other related articles on the PHP Chinese website!