DevOps Dictionary

Branching is the practice of creating separate lines of development in a version control system (such as Git) so teams can build, test, and review changes independently before merging them into the main codebase. It addresses the problem of multiple people working on the same code at once by isolating work in its own branch, where it can evolve safely, run automated checks, and be validated through code review. At a high level, you branch from a known good point, commit changes on that branch, then merge back once the work meets quality and compatibility requirements.

With Branching, teams can ship changes with less disruption and clearer accountability; without it, unrelated work collides in shared files, increasing merge conflicts, broken builds, and risky deployments. This gap exists because isolation lets tooling and process catch issues early, while a single shared line of work forces every change to interact immediately with everything else.