Git Best Practices for Large Projects
Git Best Practices for Large Projects Git serves as the backbone for many large teams. A clear, repeatable workflow reduces merge conflicts, speeds reviews, and helps new contributors join quickly. The ideas below are practical and adaptable to many teams. Choosing a Branching Strategy Favor a simple, scalable model: trunk-based development or a two-branch flow with a stable main branch and feature work. Name branches consistently: feature/, bugfix/, release/, hotfix/. Decide how to merge: use merge commits to preserve history, or rebase locally for cleaner local history before a merge. Prune old branches regularly: delete merged branches from both local and remote repos. Keep Commits Small and Meaningful Make one logical change per commit to keep history clear. Write a short, imperative summary (for example, “Add authentication check” or “Fix race in worker queue”). Include details in the body when needed, and reference related issues or tickets. Avoid large, mixed-change commits; they slow reviews and testing. Code Review and PR Hygiene Require code reviews for changes that touch multiple areas; set a minimum number of reviewers. Keep pull requests focused and small; split big tasks into smaller PRs when possible. Use draft PRs to gather early feedback and align expectations before the final merge. Performance Tips for Large Repos Use shallow or partial clones when working on a single area of the codebase. Consider sparse-checkout to focus on relevant folders and reduce local workload. Store large assets outside the repo with Git LFS; avoid bloating history with big binaries. Archive or trash old branches and prune stale refs to keep the repo lean. Automation and Quality Gates Enable pre-commit hooks for linting, formatting, and simple checks. Tie CI to PRs: run tests, build, and security checks automatically. Require tests to pass and reviews to be completed before merging. Backup and Recovery Tag stable releases and important milestones to ease rollbacks. Keep regular backups of important repos and document a clear rollback plan. Know how to revert a bad merge and how to recover from a corrupted history. Documentation and Onboarding Maintain a contributor guide with the chosen workflow and branch rules. Document common workflows, naming conventions, and merge policies. Onboarding new teammates with a quick start guide helps everyone stay aligned. Key Takeaways A consistent branching and merging approach reduces surprises. Keep commits small, well-described, and easy to review. Automate checks, tests, and backups to protect the project as it grows.