When to create Git branches?

If there are five developers on a project working on separate task but (likely) common files: should I create one branch for all, or five branches for five developers?

ChatGPT said:

If 5 developers are working on 5 separate tasks, the usual and safer approach is:

✅ Create 5 feature branches — one per developer/task

For example:

main
│
├── feature/login
├── feature/dashboard
├── feature/payment
├── feature/reporting
└── feature/notifications

Each developer works on their own branch:

Bash
git checkout -b feature/login

and commits only their task:

Bash
git add .
git commit -m "Add login functionality"
git push -u origin feature/login

Then they create a Pull Request into main (or usually a develop/integration branch).

Why not one branch for all 5?

If everyone works on one shared branch:

feature/all-developers
       ↑
  5 developers

you can run into problems:

• Developer A's unfinished code gets mixed with Developer B's work.

• It becomes difficult to review changes.

• One developer's bug can block everyone.

• Reverting one developer's changes becomes harder.

• Merge conflicts become harder to understand.

• You lose a clean history of which work belongs to which task.

But what if they modify common files?

This is the important part.

Common files do not mean you need a common branch.

For example:

Developer A → app.py
Developer B → app.py
Developer C → utils.py
Developer D → app.py
Developer E → config.py

You should still normally have:

feature/A
feature/B
feature/C
feature/D
feature/E

Git will handle the branches independently. When the PRs are merged, conflicts can be resolved if two developers changed overlapping parts of app.py.

A good workflow for your team

I'd recommend:

                 main
                  │
          ┌───────┴────────┐
          │                │
       develop          (optional)
          │
    ┌─────┼─────┬─────┬─────┐
    ↓     ↓     ↓     ↓     ↓
   Dev1  Dev2  Dev3  Dev4  Dev5
    │     │     │     │     │
 feature feature feature feature feature
   /A     /B     /C     /D     /E

Each developer:

1. Starts from the latest integration branch.

2. Creates their own feature branch.

3. Does their work.

4. Pushes the branch.

5. Creates a PR.

6. PR is reviewed.

7. Merge into develop.

8. Periodically merge develop into main.

One important practice when files are shared

If Developer A and B are both likely to modify app.py, tell them early.

For example:

A: I'll modify the authentication section of app.py.

B: I'll modify the API routing section of app.py.

Even better, if practical, split large common files into smaller modules. That reduces Git conflicts substantially.

In short

Situation	Recommended
5 developers, 5 tasks	5 branches ✅
1 developer, multiple related changes	1 branch
Everyone working on exactly the same feature	Possibly 1 branch, but usually still separate branches + PRs
Shared/common files	Still use separate branches
Experimental work	Separate branch
Production code	Don't have everyone directly commit to main

Rule of thumb: one branch per unit of work, not one branch per project.

And if you're already working with branches like fixes_and_enhancements_20260917, the same principle applies: make the branch represent a specific set of changes, rather than becoming a permanent shared development branch.