Gitflow and GitHub-flow

Gitflow

Gitflow is a branching model designed for structured releases and long-term maintenance.

Main Branches

• main (or master) Always contains production-ready code
• develop Integration branch for completed features before a release.

Supporting branches

• feature/* Created from develop for new features.
• release/* Created from develop to prepare a release (bug fixes, version bumps, Documentation).
• hotfix/* Created from main to quickly fix production bugs.

Typical flow

1. Create feature/* from develop
2. Merge feature into develop
3. Create release/* from develop
4. Merge release into main and develop
5. Tag the release
6. Use hotfix/* if production issues occur

Pros (Advantage)

• Clear separation of development, release, and production
• Good for large teams and scheduled releases
• Works well with versioned software

Cons (Disadvantage)

• Complex
• Heavy branching and merging
• Slower for continuous deployment

Best for

• Enterprise systems
• Products with fixed release cycles
• Teams needing strict control

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GitHub Flow

GitHub Flow is a lightweight workflow optimized for continuous deployment.

Main branch

• main Always deployable

Branches

• Feature branches Created directly from main and merged back via Pull Requests.

Typical flow

1. Create a branch from main
2. Make changes and commit
3. Open a Pull Request
4. Review, test, CI runs
5. Merge into main
6. Deploy immediately

Pros

• Simple and fast
• Easy to understand
• Excellent for CI/CD
• Fewer merge conflicts

Cons

• Not ideal for long release preparation
• Requires strong testing and CI discipline

Best for

• Web applications
• SaaS products
• Small to medium teams
• Continuous deployment environments.

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Key Differences