GitHub provides different workflows depending on whether you own the repository or are contributing to someone else’s project. Understanding these workflows is essential for collaborating effectively on GitHub.
GitHub flow
GitHub flow is a lightweight, branch-based workflow. The GitHub flow is useful for everyone, not just developers. The GitHub documentation has a good overview of the process and the reasons for using it. See GitHub flow.
The basic GitHub flow consists of:
- Create a branch from main
- Make changes and commit them
- Push the branch to GitHub
- Create a pull request
- Review and discuss changes
- Merge the pull request
- Delete the branch
Workflow for a single repository
When you own a repository or have write access to it, you can use a simpler workflow. The following image illustrates the workflow for using Git and GitHub to add or change content using a working branch for a single repository. The step shown in red is a one-time action for each machine you work on. The numbered steps (in black) are described in the table below.
| Steps | Description of steps | Git command / GitHub actions |
|---|---|---|
| A | Clone the repo (once per machine) | git clone https://github.com/<your-account>/sdwGitFun |
| 0 | Checkout the main branch | git checkout main |
| 1 | Sync the main branch | git pull origin main |
| 2 | Create a new working branch | git checkout -b v1release |
| 3 | Create new content | Use VS Code to create or edit files |
| 4 | Add changes for Git tracking | git add -A |
| 5 | Commit changes to local repo | git commit -m 'commit message' |
| 6 | Push working branch to origin | git push origin v1release |
| 7 | Submit pull request | Go to https://github.com/<your-account>/sdwGitFun/pulls and click the New pull request button. Base repository: your-account/sdwGitFun base: main <– head repository: your-account/sdwGitFun compare: v1release Fill out the pull request description and click Submit. |
| 8 | PR is reviewed | Make the necessary changes based on the review feedback. |
| 9 | PR is merged | Go to step 10 |
| 10 | Cleanup unneeded branch info | git checkout main; git push origin --delete v1release; git branch -D v1releaseThe git push command deletes the branch in your fork and deletes the tracking branch from your local repo. The git branch command delete the branch from your local repo. |
| 11 | Start new change | Go to step 0 |