How would you design a branch strategy that supports normal releases and urgent hotfixes?

Branch strategy for releases and hotfixes

Designs a pragmatic branching strategy for normal releases, hotfixes, and production traceability.

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TL;DR

I would start with a protected main branch and short-lived feature branches. For normal work, changes go through PRs and CI before merge. For releases, the team can either deploy from main or cut a release branch if QA or stabilization needs to happen separately. For urgent production fixes, I would create a hotfix from the deployed version and merge the fix back into main.

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Branching strategy, release safety, hotfix flow, CI validation, traceability, and team coordination.

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Core answer
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Why this question matters
A branch strategy is not a diagram; it is an operating model for how the team delivers safely.
I would start with a protected main branch and short-lived feature branches. For normal work, changes go through PRs and CI before merge. For releases, the team can either deploy from main or cut a release branch if QA or stabilization needs to happen separately. For urgent production fixes, I would create a hotfix from the deployed version and merge the fix back into main.
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Stronger answer
Optional upgrade with examples, trade-offs, and sharper phrasing.
In a .NET product team, I would keep the strategy as simple as the release process allows. If the team deploys frequently, protected main plus tags and hotfix branches may be enough. If releases have long QA cycles, release branches can help isolate stabilization. The trade-off is that more branches mean more merge overhead and more ways for fixes to get lost.

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Details

Creating too many long-lived branches.
Forgetting hotfix merge-back.
Deploying untagged commits.
Letting release branches drift from main.

How would you design a branch strategy that supports normal releases and urgent hotfixes?

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How would you design a branch strategy that supports normal releases and urgent hotfixes?

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Tech stacks

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