Lesson 04

Branch naming and upstream

Create topic branches with clear names and set upstream tracking so future pushes and pulls target the right remote branch.

branches
upstream
collaboration

Good Code

branch-start.sh

# Topic branch name tells teammates what this work is about.
git switch -c feature/git-track-lessons
git push -u origin feature/git-track-lessons
git status --short --branch

Bad Code

branch-start.sh

# Committing directly on main raises the cost of mistakes.
git switch main
git commit -am "changes"
git push origin HEAD

Review Notes

What to review

Good Code

The good version creates a named topic branch, publishes it with upstream tracking, and checks the branch state.

Bad Code

The bad version commits on main and pushes HEAD without a clear target. That makes accidental pushes harder to spot in review.

Takeaways

A branch should tell the team what kind of work it contains and where it syncs by default.