Branches

Creating a GitHub Branch

After creating an issue, you're going to want to create a GitHub Branch. A branch is a parallel version of the repository's "main" branch, which allows you to develop on without affecting the main codebase.

To create a new branch locally, run:

How to Create/Use a Branch In Your Terminal

Creating the branch

Text Only

git branch {name_of_branch}

Entering the branch

Text Only

git checkout {name_of_branch}

Creating and entering a branch at the same time

Text Only

git checkout -b {name_of_branch}

Our Branch Naming Convention

Text Only

{github_issue_generated_number}-{short_description}

Since our branch naming convention requires an issue generated number, it's likely easier to just create the branch from the GitHub Issue web page.

Accessing a GitHub Branch

If you created your branch on the GitHub web page and not your local terminal, you'll first have to run

Text Only

git fetch origin

to get the new branches from the remote repository.

Then, as mentioned before, you can checkout ("enter") the new branch with

Text Only

git checkout {name_of_branch}

and from there, you can start editing files and implementing your changes!