Git and branching

GitFlow, branch naming, and what CI runs at each stage

Id general-git Applies to any Status active Enforceable yes, no check yet Tags gitbranchinggitflowci

We use Git to manage our code and use GitFlow as our workflow. Whenever possible, simply create a branch on the project repo rather than forking to another repository. This is because there are some workflows that only run on the main repository (such as build steps and Cypress cloud test submission). For testing it is important to have these workflows and artifacts in place. If you do not have proper permission to create a branch on the repository in question, please request access.

Branch naming

For each branch type defined by GitFlow, the following branch naming patterns are acceptable:

Branch type Pattern
main main (preferred)
master
trunk
hotfix hotfix/* - where * represents the semantic version number (e.g. hotfix/1.2.1)
release release/* - where * represents the semantic version number (e.g. release/1.2.0)
develop develop
feature feature/* - new feature
add/* - new feature
update/* - improve an existing feature
fix/* - non-urgent bugfixes
try/* - experiments

The asterisks can be replaced with a descriptive name, or a ticket number.

GitHub Actions

Stage Trigger Actions
Feature On push to a feature branch Run linting and tests. Run a build (plugins and themes only)
Develop On push or PR to the develop branch
On alpha or beta release		 Run linting and tests. Run a build (plugins and themes only)
Run linting and the full test matrix. Run a build (plugins and themes only)
Release On push or PR to a release branch
On a release candidate release		 Run linting and tests. Run a build (plugins and themes only)
Run linting and the full test matrix. Run a build (plugins and themes only)
Hotfix On push or PR to a hotfix branch
On a release candidate release		 Run linting and tests. Run a build (plugins and themes only)
Run linting and the full test matrix. Run a build (plugins and themes only)
Main On push to the main branch Run linting and full test matrix. Run a build (plugins and themes only)

Version tagging conventions live in Releases. Who is permitted to review and release is covered in Code review and release restrictions.