About Gitflow Simulator

Simulate gitflow workflow scenarios for features, releases, and hotfixes. Part of the DevTools Surf developer suite. Browse more tools in the Developer Utilities collection.

Use Cases

• Onboard developers onto a team that uses gitflow by walking through a simulated feature delivery.
• Rehearse the release branch stabilization process before a high-stakes product launch.
• Demonstrate the difference between gitflow and GitHub Flow to stakeholders evaluating branching strategies.
• Practice hotfix delivery without touching the development branch workflow.

Tips

• Always create feature branches off 'develop', not 'main' — gitflow's invariant is that 'main' only ever receives finished releases.
• Use the hotfix branch type for production bugs; it branches from 'main' and merges back to both 'main' and 'develop' to keep them in sync.
• Simulate a full release cycle (feature → develop → release → main) before training a team so they can see the branch lifecycle end-to-end.

Fun Facts

• Gitflow was published by Vincent Driessen in January 2010 in a blog post that became one of the most widely shared git articles ever — reaching millions of readers within a year.
• Driessen added a note to his original 2010 post in 2020 recommending against gitflow for most web projects, preferring trunk-based development for continuous delivery.
• Gitflow requires maintaining two permanent long-lived branches (main and develop), which Atlassian's 2022 DevOps survey found doubles the average merge conflict rate compared to trunk-based workflows.

FAQ

When should I use gitflow vs. trunk-based development?

Gitflow fits versioned software with scheduled releases (desktop apps, SDKs). Trunk-based development fits web apps with continuous deployment. Most SaaS teams moved to trunk-based after 2018.

What are the five branch types in gitflow?

main (production), develop (integration), feature/* (new work), release/* (stabilization), hotfix/* (production patches). Feature and hotfix branches are deleted after merge.

Does the simulator support parallel feature branches?

Yes — create multiple feature branches simultaneously and merge them in different orders to see how develop accumulates changes and how conflicts arise.