Fork & Branch Git WorkFlow 🛤️

Recently, I contributed to an open-source project Twindle, which is beginner-friendly and would like to help other beginner Devs through my learning.😇

Out of many, the hurdle of creating the very first Pull Request for a newbie can't be neglected for sure and for obvious reasons.😛
Once successfully done, it was quite exciting for me too!! 😄

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To create a PR (Pull Request), I used a Fork & Branch Git Workflow mentioned below:

Prerequisites

• GitHub account
• Git installed in local machine

Guidelines

Every other open source project has its own set of guidelines to follow before creating a PR. So, please go through the project details & make changes as per the rules.

Terminologies

1. Local: It typically means "on our computer".

2. Remote: It is typically the code hosting service like Github, Bitbucket & others.

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Step 1: Fork the Repository

• Open the original repository (twindle) in GitHub.
• Click on the Fork in the top right corner (below your profile icon).
• In a matter of seconds, it will be ready with your forked repository.

Step 2: Make a Local Clone

• In your local machine, move to the directory/location you want to clone your forked repository.
• Right-click and choose Git Bash Here option. This will open the Git terminal.
• Type git clone <URL of forked repository>

Note:

• "URL of forked repository" will be unique for every user. You can find it under Code > HTTPS in your GitHub account inside the forked repository.
• For this repository, default Git remote name is origin

Syntax: cd <repository-name> to enter the cloned repository.

• cd twindle in this case.

Step 3: Adding a Remote

Syntax: git remote add <remote> <URL of original repository>

• git remote add upstream https://github.com/twindle-co/twindle.git

Note:
Git remote name to pull changes from the original repo is upstream here. You can name it anything.
We will need it at a later point.

Step 4: Working In a Branch

1) Create and Checkout

Method 1

• git branch feature
• git checkout feature

OR

Method 2
(shorthand for Method 1)

Syntax: git checkout -b <branch-name>

• git checkout -b feature

Executing either method creates & switches to the new branch i.e feature.

2) Make changes to the files via any editor of your choice

Any changes made will be in the feature branch, not main (formerly known as the master) a.k.a root branch.

3) Commit those changes

• git add .
• git commit -m "<message>"

Step 5: Pushing changes to GitHub

Syntax: git push <remote> <branch>

• git push origin feature

Step 6: Opening a Pull Request

• GitHub makes it incredibly easy.
• Click on Compare & Pull Request button.
• Provide a brief title & description.
• Click on Create Pull Request to submit.
• Wait for it to be merged.

Step 7: Cleaning Up After a Merged PR

Once the PR is merged,

• git pull upstream main

Pull changes from the original repo

Note:
You need to switch the branch to main before deleting the feature branch (next command).

• git checkout main
• git branch -d feature

Deletes the feature branch locally

• git push origin main

Push changes to forked repo > main branch

• git push origin --delete feature

Deletes the feature branch remotely

Step 8: Keeping your Forked Repo in Sync with the Original Repo

It's recommended to do this every time before raising a PR / time-to-time to update your Forked Repo > main branch

• git pull upstream main
• git push origin main

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I would like you all to contribute your bit in this fantastic project.

💭 Share your thoughts on how did you tackle your first PR ?