git-wf

Branch Workflow CLI

A cli that provides a set of git wf subcommands which simplify dealing with feature branches & GitHub pull requests. Does not require a GH API token, as it just opens your browser to complete Pull Request operations.

• creates named feature branches which track their intended "parent" (start)
• opens pull requests against the intended parent branch (pr)
• cleans up when done (done)
• aborts abandoned branches cleanly (abort)
• renames branches locally & on server (rename)
• additional optional release management commands (cut-release, qa, hotfix, merge-back)

"master" vs "main"

Below we use the term main to refer to your mainline branch; if you have a main branch in your local checkout, we'll assume that's the one you're using. If not, we'll assume you're using master.

Installation

$ npm install -g git-wf

If your GitHub username does not match $USER in your environment, you should set the $GH_USER env var to your GitHub username wherever you set your shell's environment variables.

Usage

$ git wf --help

Commands

The start, pr, abort, rename, and done commands can be used on any project that has a master or main branch.

All of the other commands will enforce the existence and use of the main, release, and hotfix branch naming scheme.

git wf start [--fork] <name> - starts a new feature branch

Given you are currently on branch <parent>

• Updates the branch you currently have checked out with git pull
• Creates a new feature branch named <name> locally with git checkout -b <name>
• If you specified --fork or already have a remote named fork:
  • verifies you have a remote named fork
  • if you don't, verifies that <yourusername>/<reponame> exists on github, and if not prompts you to create it
  • if you do have a github fork, creates the fork remote for you
  • Pushes your feature branch to fork as a branch named feature/<parent>/<name> with git push -u fork <name>:feature/<parent><name>
• If you didn't, pushes your feature branch to origin as a branch named <yourusername>/feature/<parent>/<name> with git push -u origin <name>:<yourusername>/feature/<parent>/<name>

git wf rename <newname> - renames a feature branch

If you decide you don't like your name, from a checked out feature branch run this command, passing a new name, it will:

• Fetch the latest commits from the remote
• Create a new remote branch named correctly, based on the fetched version of the old remote branch (no new commits from local)
• Create a new local branch with the new name, based on the current local branch
• Make the former the upstream of the latter
• Delete the old local branch
• Delete the old remote branch

git wf abort - aborts a feature

If you decide you don't like your new feature, you may PERMANENTLY delete it, locally and remotely, using git wf abort. This will:

• Commit any working tree changes as a commit with message "WIP"
• Save the SHA of whatever the final commit was
• Switch to the parent branch
• Delete the local branch, remote branch, and remote tracking branch.
• Output the final SHA in case you change your mind.

git wf pr - PRs a completed feature branch

Given you are currently on a feature branch named <name>, makes sure all your work is pushed to origin or fork, then opens your browser to a GitHub PR creation page to merge that back to its parent branch.

git wf done - cleans up a merged feature branch

Given you are currently on a feature branch named <name>

• Switches to inferred parent branch with git checkout <parent>
• Updates the parent branch with git pull --no-rebase
• Deletes the feature branch with git branch -d <name>
• Cleans up the corresponding remote branch with git remote prune origin

git wf cut-release [branch] - PRs starting a fresh release from main

• Runs git wf merge-back (see below)
• Opens a PR, as per git wf pr to merge branch (default: main) to release

git wf qa [branch] - Tags build of branch

• If no [branch] is given, defaults to current branch
• If [branch] is release, runs git wf merge-back
• Switches to [branch] with git checkout [branch]
• Updates with git pull --no-rebase
• Tags HEAD of [branch] as build-YYYY.mm.dd_HH.MM.SS with git tag build-...
• Pushes tag with git push origin tag build-...

git wf hotfix <build-tag> - Moves the hotfix branch to given tag

• Switches to hotfix branch
• Pulls latest updates
• Fast-forward merges hotfix to given build tag
• Pushes hotfix branch

git wf merge-back - Merges all changes back from main ← release ← hotfix

• Switches to hotfix branch
• Pulls latest updates
• Merges hotfix branch to release branch - if there are conflicts, it creates a feature branch for you to clean up the results, and submit a PR. If not, pushes the merged branch.
• As before, but this time merging release onto main

Example Flow

Here's a narrative sequence of events in the life of a project:

• The project starts with branches main, release, and hotfix all pointing at the same place
• On branch main, you git wf start widget-fix
• Now on branch widget-fix, you make some commits, decide it's ready to PR, and run git wf pr
• The PR is tested, accepted, and merged, and at some point, while on branch widget-fix, you run git wf done, which cleans it up
• You start a new features, git wf start bad-ideea, make a few commits, then realize you named it wrong, so you git wf rename bad-idea - which is fine until you realize you don't want it at all, so you git wf abort and it's all gone.
• A few more good features go in, and it's time to git wf cut-release - now your release branch is pointing up-to-date with main, and people can resume adding features to main
• It's time to QA your upcoming release, so you git wf qa release which creates a build-... tag
• Your shiny new build-... tag is available for deploying however you do that, so you deploy it, QA it, and eventually release it to production.
• Everything's progressing along, there's new stuff on main, maybe a new release has even been cut to release, when you realize there's a problem on production, so you run git wf hotfix build-... with the build tag that's currently on production. Your hotfix branch is now ready for fixes.
• From the hotfix branch, you git wf start urgent-thingy and now you're on a feature branch off of hotfix - you make your commits to fix the bug and git wf pr
• People review and approve your PR, it's merged to the hotfix branch, you git wf done to cleanup
• git wf qa hotfix creates a new build-... tag off of the hotfix branch, which can be QAed, then (quickly!) deployed to production
• Now's a good time to run git wf merge-back, which will take those commits sitting on hotfix and merge them back onto the release branch you had in progress. This goes cleanly, so it just does it for you.
• Then it goes to merge release back onto main, but uh-oh there are some conflicts by now, because someone fixed the problem a different way on main. No worries, git wf will detect that, create a feature branch to resolve the conflicts, let you clean up the merge on that branch, and then you git wf pr and it will open a PR to review the resolution.

At every stage, you don't need to stop your forward progress, forget which your next planned release was, or anything else as you add new features and hotfix production issues.