finishing-a-development-branch

To safely finish a git feature branch, you should run tests for verification, determine the base branch, and then choose to merge locally, create a pull request, keep the branch, or discard it with explicit confirmation.

Yes, finishing a development branch requires running tests using npm test, cargo test, pytest, or go test to verify implementation. The process halts on test failures to prevent merging failing code into the base branch.

To clean up a git worktree after merging, the branch finishing process determines the base branch, handles worktree removal when appropriate, and requires typed confirmation before executing any destructive deletes to prevent accidental data loss.

The best way to create a pull request from a local feature branch is to verify tests pass, determine the base branch, and use gh commands to push the branch and publish the pull request directly through the command line interface.

Yes, you can discard local git changes safely because the branch finishing workflow explicitly requires typed confirmation before executing destructive actions like discarding work, preventing accidental data loss.

The options for finalizing a feature branch in git are deterministic: merge locally, push and create a pull request, keep the branch without changes, or discard the work entirely with explicit confirmation.