Branch & Pull Request Workflow

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Branch & Pull Request Workflow
Gitea Code Review & Protected Branches
This guide may be updated as GGU policies, procedures, platforms, and organizational needs change.

GGU repositories should use branches and pull requests for changes that benefit from review or need protection from direct production edits.

 

Typical Workflow

1. Update your local default branch.
2. Create a descriptive feature or fix branch.
3. Make focused commits.
4. Push the branch.
5. Open a Pull Request in Gitea.
6. Request review where required.
7. Address review feedback.
8. Merge using the repository's allowed merge method.

 

Protected Branches

Repositories may protect important branches so direct pushes are blocked or restricted and changes must go through pull requests. Do not bypass branch protections.

 

Commit Quality

• Keep commits understandable.
• Do not mix unrelated changes.
• Do not commit generated secrets or environment files.
• Reference issues/tasks when useful.

 

Change Control

• Know what you are changing and why.
• Back up or ensure a rollback path for high-impact changes.
• Avoid combining unrelated changes.
• Record material production changes.
• Test before production when practical.

 

Validation

• Confirm the service starts successfully.
• Review logs for new errors.
• Test the exact behavior changed.
• Confirm permissions and integrations still work.
• Monitor briefly after deployment for delayed failures.

 

Escalation

If a change affects systems outside your responsibility, creates a security concern, or cannot be safely reversed, stop and escalate rather than continuing to experiment in production.

 

Pull Request Expectations

• Describe what changed and why.
• Include testing performed.
• Call out migrations or configuration changes.
• Avoid self-merging high-risk changes when independent review is required.

 

Prerequisites

• Confirm you are authorized to make the change.
• Confirm the target system/server/repository.
• Read current project or service documentation.
• Identify the expected result.
• Identify a rollback or recovery path for high-impact work.

 

Common Mistakes to Avoid

• Copying commands or values from a different server without checking context.
• Making several unrelated changes before testing.
• Ignoring warnings because the service still appears to start.
• Editing production directly when a safer test or review path exists.
• Deleting old files or backups before the replacement is verified.
• Treating permissions errors as a reason to grant broad administrator access.
• Failing to record what changed.

 

Operational Record

For material changes, record enough information for another administrator to understand the target, change, reason, result, and rollback point. This may be a ticket, issue, pull request, deployment note, incident record, or appropriate Leadership message.

 

If Something Goes Wrong

1. Stop making unrelated changes.
2. Preserve the current logs and error output.
3. Determine whether immediate rollback is safer than continued troubleshooting.
4. Restore the last known-good state where practical.
5. Escalate with the exact error, target service, recent changes, and reproduction steps.
6. After recovery, document the cause and any preventative follow-up.

 

Review important changes before they become production history.