# Git Be pragmatic; find a productive workflow. Source control should be a tool, not a chore. Use the master branch to deploy into different environments and use feature branches to prepare PRs. Resist having any long-running branches apart from master: they are the source of confusion and frustration. The branch list should reveal the current work effort (not the past). Long-running branches get out of sync quickly anyway. No change can enter the master (production) branch without a PR. Create small PRs: they are easier to create, so the code quality is better, and they are easier to review, so more mistakes will be caught. Use feature branches that live at most two days: longer ones either get too big (impossible to review) or will introduce merge conflicts. To help code reviews make sure the feature branch history is readable. Use squash when merging PRs: * it produces clean git history * requires no extra effort from the developer * flattens the PR into a single commit, hiding individual commits you made during the PR Other merge strategies either result in a messy history or require the developer to manually tinker with git or prepare each commit with great care. That amount of effort is always better spent elsewhere. When PRs are small, the individual commits in the feature branch should not matter: what matters is the result, the complete change that goes into master. Make sure merged feature branches are deleted, keep a tidy work environment. Do not keep deprecated code in HEAD: delete it, you can always go back and find it. --- # Agent Instructions: Querying This Documentation If you need additional information that is not directly available in this page, you can query the documentation dynamically by asking a question. Perform an HTTP GET request on the current page URL with the `ask` query parameter: ``` GET https://thekarel.gitbook.io/best-practices/tools/git.md?ask= ``` The question should be specific, self-contained, and written in natural language. The response will contain a direct answer to the question and relevant excerpts and sources from the documentation. Use this mechanism when the answer is not explicitly present in the current page, you need clarification or additional context, or you want to retrieve related documentation sections.