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title titleSuffix description ms.assetid ms.technology ms.author author ms.topic ms.date monikerRange
Create and delete a branch in your Git repo
Azure Repos
Create, use, and delete Git Branches in Visual Studio and from the command line
4b18a164-d1cb-4f87-89cb-8dc227e64af1
devops-code-git
sdanie
apawast
tutorial
09/10/2018
>= tfs-2013

Create work in branches

Azure Repos | Azure DevOps Server 2019 | TFS 2018 | TFS 2017 | TFS 2015 | VS 2017 | VS 2015

Git branches aren't much more than a small reference that keeps an exact history of commits, so they are cheap to create. Committing changes to a branch will not affect other branches, and you can share branches with others without having to merge the changes into the main project. Create new branches to isolate changes for a feature or a bug fix from your master branch and other work.

Since the branches are lightweight, switching between branches is quick and easy. Git does not create multiple copies of your source when working with branches—it uses the history information stored in commits to recreate the files on a branch when you start working on it. Your Git workflow should create and use branches for managing features and bug fixes. The rest of the Git workflow, such as sharing code and reviewing code with pull requests all work through branches. Isolating work in branches makes it simple to change what you are working on by changing your current branch.

In this tutorial you learn:

[!div class="checklist"]

  • How are Git branches created?
  • How to create a branch
  • How to delete a branch
  • How to use branches

Video Overview

<iframe src="https://channel9.msdn.com/series/Team-Services-Git-Tutorial/Git-Tutorial-Branches/player" width="640" height="360" allowFullScreen frameBorder="0"></iframe>

How are Git branches created?

Create branches using the branch command. Branch creates a reference in Git for the new branch and a pointer back to the parent commit so Git can keep a history of changes as you add commits to the branch. When you are working with a branch that someone else shared, Git keeps an upstream tracking relationship to associate the branch on the local repo with the corresponding branch on the remote repo. This makes it simple to sync changes with others using push and pull.

Visual of a branch off master in Git

In this image, a new branch is created from the main branch. Work continues on both branches and commits are added to both branches.

Git always adds new commits to the current local branch. Check what branch you are working on before you commit so that you don't commit changes to the wrong branch. Swap between local branches using the checkout command. Git will change the files on your computer to match the latest commit on the checked out branch. When your work in the branch is ready to share with the rest of the team, you push the changes to update the remote branch.

A common mistake is to make some changes and commit them, realize you are on an incorrect branch, then checkout to the correct branch. Your most recent changes will no longer be on the filesystem since each branch has its own version of code. Git will bring the state of the files back to the last commit on the branch you swapped into, not the previous branch where you made your changes. You'll need to either cherry-pick the commits from the branch or merge the changes into the correct branch.

Create a branch

Visual Studio

Visual Studio 2015 & 2017

  1. Open up Team Explorer and go to the Branches view.

  2. Right-click the parent branch (usually master) to base your changes and choose New Local Branch From....

  3. Supply a branch name in the required field and click Create Branch. Visual Studio automatically performs a checkout to the newly created branch.

    Creating Git Branches in Visual Studio

Command Line

Use the branch command to create the branch and checkout to swap to that branch.

git branch feature1
git checkout feature1

Delete a branch

Note

Deleting a branch in your local repo doesn't remove the branch on the remote.

Visual Studio

Visual Studio 2015 & 2017

  1. Open up Team Explorer and go to the Branches view.

  2. Locate the branch you want to delete. Make sure that you aren't checked out to that branch, as you can't delete the branch you are currently working in.

  3. Right-click the branch name and select Delete. If you have unpublished changes, Visual Studio will ask and make sure you want to delete the branch so you don't possibly lose work.

    Deleting a branch in Visual Studio

You can delete a remote branch using the same method - locate the tree for the remote in Team Explorer's Branches view (such as remotes/origin), right-click and select Delete.

Command Line

Delete a local branch using git branch -d while checked out to a different branch.

git branch -d <branch_name>

Deleting a remote branch requires use of the git push command using the --delete option.

git push origin --delete <branch_name>

Use branches to manage development

Git keeps track of which branch you are working on and makes sure that when you checkout a branch your files match the most recent commit on the branch. Branches let you work with multiple versions of the source code in the same local Git repository at the same time. Tell Git which branch you want to work on with checkout, and Git takes care of setting the right file versions for that branch.

You shouldn't need more than one repo on your system when you use branches to isolate your work. Set up your development environment one time after you clone, and then use Git branches to swap between feature work and bug fixing.

Next steps

[!div class="nextstepaction"] Share code with push