Choosing the Right Git Workflow: A Comparative Analysis of Trunk-based vs. Branch-based Approaches

2025-07-11

AI Summary

This study investigates the contextual applicability of Trunk-Based Development (TBD) versus Branch-Based Development (BBD) workflows to optimize developer productivity and software quality across diverse team settings. Method: We conducted a mixed-methods empirical study with 127 practitioners in Brazil, comprising semi-structured interviews (n=15) and an online survey (n=112), analyzed via qualitative coding and quantitative statistical methods. Contribution/Results: To our knowledge, this is the first systematic, industry-based comparison of TBD and BBD practices. We identify team size and developer experience as critical moderating factors: TBD significantly improves delivery efficiency in small, experienced teams, whereas BBD better accommodates large-scale or junior-heavy teams—at the cost of higher process management overhead. The findings yield a data-driven decision framework to guide workflow selection based on organizational context.

Technology Category

• Multiagent Systems: Teamwork
• Humans and AI: Teamwork, Team formation
• Data Mining & Knowledge Management: Data Compression

Application Category

• User Modeling, Personalization and Recommendation: Practical large-scale studies of user experience
• Systems and Infrastructure for Web, Mobile and WoT: Web performance, measurement, and characterization
• Web Mining and Content Analysis: Topic discovery and tracking

Abstract

Git has become one of the most widely used version control systems today. Among its distinguishing features, its ability to easily and quickly create branches stands out, allowing teams to customize their workflows. In this context, various formats of collaborative development workflows using Git have emerged and gained popularity among software engineers. We can categorize such workflows into two main types: branch-based workflows and trunk-based workflows. Branch-based workflows typically define a set of remote branches with well-defined objectives, such as feature branches, a branch for feature integration, and a main branch. The goal is to migrate changes from the most isolated branch to the main one shared by all as the code matures. In this category, GitFlow stands out as the most popular example. In contrast, trunk-based workflows have a single remote branch where developers integrate their changes directly. In this range of options, choosing a workflow that maximizes team productivity while promoting software quality becomes a non-trivial task. Despite discussions on forums, social networks, and blogs, few scientific articles have explored this topic. In this work, we provide evidence on how Brazilian developers work with Git workflows and what factors favor or hinder the use of each model. To this end, we conducted semi-structured interviews and a survey with software developers. Our results indicate that trunk-based development favors fast-paced projects with experienced and smaller teams, while branch-based development suits less experienced and larger teams better, despite posing management challenges.

Problem

• Compares trunk-based vs. branch-based Git workflows for teams
• Analyzes factors influencing workflow choice in Brazilian developers
• Evaluates workflow impact on team productivity and software quality

Innovation

• Comparative analysis of Git workflows
• Semi-structured interviews with developers
• Survey on workflow preferences