What is your experience with Git Flow?

I have experience working with Git Flow, actively using it to manage branches in medium and large projects.

Main branch types:

• master (or main): Stable code ready for production. Updated only through merging from release.
• develop: Main branch for integrating new features. All new development starts from it.
• feature/<name>: Branches for developing new functionalities. Branch from develop and merge back into develop after completion.
• release/<version>: Branches for preparing a new release. Branch from develop, used for bug fixes and final adjustments. Merged into both master and develop.
• hotfix/<name>: Branches for urgent bug fixes in production. Branch from master and merge into both master and develop.

Typical feature workflow:

# Start developing a new feature
git flow feature start my-new-feature

# Code, commit

# Finish the feature (merge into develop and delete feature branch)
git flow feature finish my-new-feature

Release creation process:

# Start release process for version 1.0.0
git flow release start 1.0.0 develop

# Make necessary fixes and tests

# Finish the release (merge into master and develop, tag the release)
git flow release finish 1.0.0

Git Flow is well-suited for projects with a clearly defined release cycle and requires discipline from the team. For more flexible and rapidly changing projects, simpler branching models like GitHub Flow are sometimes preferred.

I have used it in projects with teams of 5 to 20 people, which helped standardize the development process and reduce merge conflicts.