A modern, maintainable implementation of the git-flow branching model, written in Go.
About
git-flow-next is a modern reimplementation of the popular git-flow branching model. It's built with Go, focusing on reliability, extensibility, and developer experience.
Why This Project?
This project is maintained by the team behind Tower, one of the most popular Git clients for Mac and Windows. Having integrated git-flow into Tower over many years, we've gained deep insights into its strengths and areas for improvement.
As developers of version control tools, we're passionate about creating better developer experiences. While the original git-flow has served the community well, we saw an opportunity to build a more modern implementation that:
Is written in Go for better maintainability and performance Provides a more robust and reliable experience Offers better error handling and conflict resolution Supports modern Git workflows and practices Maintains compatibility with existing git-flow setups Our goal is to contribute back to the developer community with tools that make version control workflows more efficient and enjoyable.
Features
Modern Implementation: Written in Go with focus on reliability and maintainability Improved Conflict Resolution: Better handling of merge conflicts and edge cases Flexible Configuration: Customizable branch naming and merge strategies Compatibility: Works with existing git-flow repositories Enhanced Error Handling: Clear error messages and recovery options Performance: Fast and efficient operations Installation
Homebrew (macOS and Linux)
brew install gittower/tap/git-flow-next Manual Installation
Download the latest release from the releases page Extract the binary to a location in your PATH Make it executable: chmod +x /path/to/git-flow Quick Start
Initialize git-flow in your repository:
git flow init Start a new feature:
git flow feature start my-feature Finish the feature:
git flow feature finish my-feature Shorthand Commands
git-flow-next provides convenient shorthand commands that automatically detect your current topic branch and execute the appropriate action. These aliases work similar to git-flow-avh and eliminate the need to specify the branch type manually.
Available Shorthands
Shorthand Full Command Description git flow delete git flow delete Delete the current topic branch git flow rebase git flow update --rebase Rebase the current topic branch git flow update git flow update Update the current topic branch git flow rename git flow rename Rename the current topic branch git flow publish git flow publish Publish the current topic branch (planned) git flow finish git flow finish Finish the current topic branch How It Works
When you use a shorthand command, git-flow-next:
Detects your current branch - Checks which branch you're currently on Identifies the branch type - Determines if it's a feature, release, hotfix, or support branch based on configured prefixes Executes the full command - Runs the corresponding full command with the detected type and branch name Examples
git checkout feature/my-awesome-feature git flow finish # Executes: git flow feature finish my-awesome-feature git flow rebase # Executes: git flow feature update --rebase
git checkout release/v1.2.0 git flow publish # Executes: git flow release publish v1.2.0
git checkout hotfix/critical-bug git flow finish # Executes: git flow hotfix finish critical-bug git flow rebase # Executes: git flow hotfix update --rebase Branch Detection
The shorthand commands automatically detect topic branches based on your git-flow configuration:
Feature branches: feature/, features/, feat/ Release branches: release/, releases/, rel/ Hotfix branches: hotfix/, hotfixes/, hf/ Support branches: support/, supports/, sup/ Error Handling
Non-topic branches: If you're not on a topic branch, you'll get a clear error message Ambiguous branches: If a branch name could be interpreted multiple ways, you'll be prompted to use the explicit command Missing branches: If the branch doesn't exist, appropriate error messages are shown Command Options
All options and flags are passed through to the underlying commands:
git flow finish --keep --tag # Keeps the branch and creates a tag git flow update --rebase # Forces rebase strategy for update git flow delete --force # Force deletes the branch Supported Branch Types
The shorthand commands work with all standard git-flow branch types:
Feature branches: For new features and enhancements Release branches: For preparing new releases Hotfix branches: For critical bug fixes Support branches: For maintaining older versions Planned Features
Some shorthand commands are currently planned for future releases:
git flow publish: Will be implemented as an alias to git flow publish These commands currently show "not implemented" messages when used.