Git Flow Commands

  🧠 What is Git Flow? Git Flow is a branching model created by Vincent Driessen. It organizes work into different branch types , each wi...

 

🧠 What is Git Flow?

Git Flow is a branching model created by Vincent Driessen.
It organizes work into different branch types, each with a clear purpose.

Here’s the structure:

Branch	Purpose
main	Always production-ready code
develop	Ongoing development (integration branch)
feature/*	New features
release/*	Preparing a new version for production
hotfix/*	Urgent fixes for production issues
support/*	(Optional) Long-term maintenance branches

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⚙️ Installing Git Flow

If you’re on Windows, install it like this (after Git is installed):

🪟 Windows

1. Open Git Bash.

2. Run:

   git flow init
   

Git Flow is now ready — this initializes the workflow structure in your repo.

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🚀 Git Flow Command Guide (with Examples)

Let’s go through the main commands you’ll use 👇

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🟩 1. git flow init

Purpose: Initializes Git Flow in your repository.

Command:

git flow init

You’ll be asked a few questions:

• Branch name for production releases? → main

• Branch name for "next release"? → develop

• Prefix for features, releases, etc. (press Enter to accept defaults)

After that, Git Flow will:

• Create develop from main

• Set up prefixes like feature/, release/, and hotfix/

✅ Now your repo has:

main
develop

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🟨 2. git flow feature start <name>

Purpose: Start a new feature branch from develop.

Example:

git flow feature start login-page

This creates and switches to a new branch:

feature/login-page

You can now code your feature.

After finishing the feature:

git add .
git commit -m "Add login page"

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🟦 3. git flow feature finish <name>

Purpose: Finish your feature and merge it into develop.

Example:

git flow feature finish login-page

Git Flow will:

• Merge feature/login-page → develop

• Delete the feature branch

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🟪 4. git flow release start <version>

Purpose: Prepare a release branch from develop.

Example:

git flow release start v1.0

This creates a branch:

release/v1.0

You can now:

• Update version numbers

• Do final testing, bug fixing, etc.

When ready to release:

git flow release finish v1.0

This will:

• Merge release/v1.0 → main

• Tag the release as v1.0

• Merge release/v1.0 → develop

• Delete the release branch

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🟥 5. git flow hotfix start <name>

Purpose: Create a quick fix for production directly from main.

Example:

git flow hotfix start fix-login-error

You fix the bug and commit:

git commit -am "Fix login error on production"

Finish the hotfix:

git flow hotfix finish fix-login-error

Git Flow will:

• Merge fix into main

• Tag a new release (e.g. v1.0.1)

• Merge fix back into develop

• Delete the branch

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🧩 6. (Optional) git flow support start <name>

Used for long-term maintenance versions (rare).
Example:

git flow support start 1.0.x

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🧭 Summary Table

Command	Description	Merges Into
git flow init	Initialize Git Flow structure	—
git flow feature start <name>	Start new feature	From develop
git flow feature finish <name>	Merge feature	Into develop
git flow release start <version>	Start release prep	From develop
git flow release finish <version>	Merge release	Into main + develop
git flow hotfix start <name>	Start urgent production fix	From main
git flow hotfix finish <name>	Merge hotfix	Into main + develop

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💻 Example Real Workflow

# 1️⃣ Init project
git flow init

# 2️⃣ Start a new feature
git flow feature start login
# work, then
git add .
git commit -m "Add login feature"
git flow feature finish login

# 3️⃣ Start a release
git flow release start v1.0
# bump version numbers, then
git flow release finish v1.0

# 4️⃣ Urgent fix
git flow hotfix start v1.0.1
# fix bug
git commit -am "Fix production issue"
git flow hotfix finish v1.0.1