Branches and Merging

A branch is an independent line of work.

Branches let you work on a feature without directly changing the main project line.

Why branches exist

Imagine the main branch contains production-ready code.

You need to build a new payment feature that may take three days.

You should not keep half-finished payment code directly on main.

Instead:

git checkout -b add-payments

Now you can commit freely on add-payments.

When it is ready, you merge it back.

Create and switch branches

Create a branch and switch to it:

git checkout -b feature-name

Modern Git also supports:

git switch -c feature-name

Switch to an existing branch:

git switch main

Merge a branch

Suppose you finished add-payments.

Switch to main:

git switch main

Merge the feature:

git merge add-payments

Now main includes the payment work.

Local branch vs remote branch

A local branch exists on your machine.

A remote branch exists on a remote repository like GitHub.

When you push a new branch:

git push origin add-payments

GitHub receives that branch.

Then you can open a pull request.

Good branch names

Use names that explain the work:

add-login-api
fix-payment-timeout
refactor-user-service
docs-docker-setup

Avoid names like:

new
test
changes
my-branch

Common mistake

Do not work directly on main for every change in a team project.

Use feature branches so code can be reviewed, tested, and merged deliberately.

Interview answer

A Git branch is a movable pointer to a line of commits. Branches let developers work on features or fixes separately from the main code line. Once the work is ready, it can be merged back into the target branch, often through a pull request on GitHub.