Best Practices for Git Branching in Salesforce Development (A Practical Guide for Teams)

Why Git Branching Matters in Salesforce

In Salesforce, development rarely runs in isolation. Teams typically work on:

• New features

• Enhancements to existing modules

• Patches and hotfixes for customers using older versions

• Managed package upgrades

Because all of these move in parallel, having clear branch roles and naming patterns is essential to avoid deployment roadblocks and maintain consistent version control. A well-designed branching structure helps teams deliver faster, maintain cleaner code, and support multiple live customers without disruptions.

Two Development Tracks: Regular Development & Release Management

Salesforce teams generally operate in two major tracks: everyday development and release/patch management. Here’s how to manage both smoothly.

Track 1: Regular Development Branching

For ongoing feature development, a simple three-branch structure works well:

1. development Branch

This is where day-to-day development happens. Every new feature or change starts as a separate feature branch created from development.

Example:
feature/new-product-configurator

2. staging Branch 

Once features pass initial testing, merge them into staging.
This branch typically represents your UAT or beta package environment, where integrated changes are tested together.

3. production Branch 

After your staging validations are successful, merge changes into production.
Managed package versions are typically created from this branch.

This structure maintains a clean development process and prevents the introduction of incomplete work into production pipelines.