Git Best Practices: Managing Code Repositories Like a Pro

Introduction

Git is the backbone of modern software development, enabling efficient version control, collaboration, and code management. However, misusing Git can lead to messy commit histories, merge conflicts, lost work, and security risks.

In this article, we’ll cover essential Git best practices that will help you manage code repositories like a pro. Whether you are a beginner or an experienced developer, following these best practices will keep your Git workflow clean, efficient, and secure.

For non-members, read this article in my blog post: Git Best Practices: Managing Code Repositories Like a Pro.

1️⃣ Use a Meaningful Branching Strategy 🌿

Common Pitfall

Developers working on the same branch (e.g., main or master) leads to frequent merge conflicts and poor code isolation.

✅ Best Practice

✔ Follow a branching strategy like Git Flow, GitHub Flow, or Trunk-Based Development.
✔ Use feature branches for new development.
✔ Use hotfix branches for urgent bug fixes.
✔ Merge branches via Pull Requests (PRs) or Merge Requests (MRs).