Git-oneflow NPM

CLI tools implementing the OneFlow git branching model.

OneFlow is a git branching model proposed by Adam Ruka as an alternative to GitFlow.

In this article, Adam describes how it works and when it should be employed.

This workflow is not for the uninitiated:

Heavy use of rebase
By default, work is off of main
???
No Profit :( and surefire way to mess things up quickly and embarrassingly.

For a good overview of why you should and when you shouldn't use rebase read this

I have simply put together some CLI commands to leverage the OneFlow model.

I have remained strictly faithful to how Adam defines the workflow without adding anything fancy (yet). This means that, by default, git-OneFlow works with one main branch only (main) and new features are rebased. Check the customisation section.

Of course, one-size-fits-all does not always work, therefore, I have implemented all the feature integration options described in the article and both the one main branch and main and development branches models.

Fun facts:

Two branches model + integration option #2 gives... :drumroll: GitFlow :)
Adam Ruka doesn't really like the idea of 'tools' like this one

Node Compatibility

Supported version are LTS and above.

Install

npm install -g git-oneflow

Usage

git-oneflow --help

gof --help

gof is a convenient alias for the overly verbose and long to type git-oneflow.

Node Package Execute - npx

It is possible to run git-oneflow directly (i.e. no local installation) from the npm registry with Node Package Execute:

npx git-oneflow --help

Configuration

git-OneFlow comes with some defaults which faithfully mirror Adam Ruka recommendations.

Defaults

One main branch

main

Feature branches

Feature branches stem from feature:

gof start feature my-feature
# equivalent to...
git checkout -b feature/my-feature

Finishing a feature is done by rebasing:

gof finish feature my-feature
# equivalent to...
git checkout feature/my-feature
git rebase -i main
git checkout main
git merge --ff-only feature/my-feature
git push origin main
git branch -d feature/my-feature

Release/Hotfix branches

Releases and hotfixes share the same workflow: (just substitute hotfix for release in the following examples)

gof start release 2.3.0
# equivalent to...
git checkout -b release/2.3.0

...then

gof finish release 2.3.0 -t 2.3.0
# equivalent to...
git checkout release/2.3.0
git tag -a -m '2.3.0' 2.3.0
git checkout main
git merge release/2.3.0
git push --follow-tags origin main
git branch -d release/2.3.0

Configuration file

gof init

init starts an interactive session that allows for customising the configuration of git-OneFlow

This creates a .git-oneflowrc file with the chosen configuration options. git-OneFlow uses cosmiconfig under the hood.

To specify a configuration file on the command line use -c|--configuration with the name of the file (and it's path).

gof start feature -c config/my-gof-config.json

Configuration options

Option	Description	Default	Details
`main`	name of the main (production) branch	`main`	must be set to an existing branch name
`development`	name of the development branch	`undefined`	not set or an existing branch name
`features`	name of the features branch (prefixed to the feature name)	`feature`	empty string or a valid branch name. This strings works as a branch prefix, e.g. if the chosen feature name is `my-super-feature` the resulting (using the default) branch name for this feature will be `feature/my-super-feature`. An empty string will result in `my-super-feature`. This applies to releases and hotfixes as well.
`releases`	name of the releases branch (prefixed to the release name)	`release`	empty string or a valid branch name
`hotfixes`	name of the hotfixes branch (prefixed to the hotfix name)	`hotfix`	empty string or a valid branch name
`strategy`	which feature integration merge strategy to use	`rebase`	Valid options are: `rebase`, `rebase-no-ff` and `no-ff`
`interactive`	whether to rebase interactively `rebase -i`	`true`	the values `true` or `false`, not the strings 'true' or 'false'. See example. If set to `false` this, and other boolean options, act as a permanent `off` switch for the given option. In this case, it is like `--no-interactive` is always specified on the command line.
`pushAfterMerge`	whether to push to `origin` after finishing	`true`	`true`, `false`
`deleteAfterMerge`	whether to delete the working branch after merging with main/development	`true`	`true`, `false`
`tagCommit`	whether to ask to tag releases and hotfixes	`true`	`true`, `false`. This option is used to decide whether to prompt the user or not in case a tag hasn't been specified, for example with `--tag 2.3.4`.
`askOnFeatureStart`	whether to ask which branch to start a feature from	`false`	`true`, `false`. This option is used to decide whether to prompt the user or not in case they start a feature.
`askOnFeatureFinish`	whether to ask which branch to merge a feature onto	`false`	`true`, `false`. This option is used to decide whether to prompt the user or not in case they finish a feature.

Generate default file

To create a configuration file with default values:

gof init -y

this will create .gitonelfowrc in the current directory with the following content:

{
  "main": "main",
  "features": "feature",
  "releases": "release",
  "hotfixes": "hotfix",
  "strategy": "rebase",
  "interactive": true,
  "deleteAfterMerge": true,
  "pushAfterMerge": true,
  "tagCommit": true
}

Commands

Under the hood, git-OneFlow uses commander. Essentially, it is possible to start or finish either a feature, a release or an hotfix.

Each command can be passed options that modify the default behaviour.

Common options to all commands

Option flag	Description
-c, --config \<file>	configuration file to use
-b, --base \<name>	override the current base branch name
--no-base	do not use a base branch name

The `start` command

gof start <feature|release|hotfix> [options] [name]

Commands can be shortened using the initial letter:

gof s f -h # => gof start feature --help

`start` options

Options are common to every sub-command (start feature, start release, start hotfix)

Option flag	Description
-r, --ref \<ref>	new branch will be created from the given branch, commit or tag
--no-ref	create the new branch from the current branch

The `finish` command

The finish command syntax is exactly the same as the start command. What changes are the options that can be passed to the sub-commands.

Common `finish` options

Option flag	Description
-o,--onto \<onto>	branch to merge or rebase onto
-p,--push	push to origin after merge
--no-push	do not push
-d,--delete	delete branch after merge
--no-delete	do not delete branch

`finish feature` options

Option flag	Description
-i,--interactive	interactive rebase
--no-interactive	do not rebase interactively
-s,--strategy \<strategy>	merge strategy

`finish release` and `finish hotfix` options

Option flag	Description
-t,--tag \<tagName>	tag the commit with the given tag
--no-tag	do not tag the commit
-m,--message \<msg>	annotate tag with a message (default to the tag name)

`--help` and `--dry-run` options

A help menu is available with every command. Just append -h or --help to access help.

gof finish release --help

Another interesting way to experiment with git-OneFlow is to use the --dry-run option. This will show the commands that would be invoked without actually doing anything.

It is possible to activate the dry-run mode also by setting the environment variable GOF_DRY_RUN