Trunk-Based Development
Trunk-Based Development = everyone on the same branch
Trunk-based development is a way of organizing code in which all developers merge their changes into a single main branch (the trunk, often named main) at least once a day, instead of working for weeks on separate branches.
Branches, when there are any, live for a few hours. This requires three conditions:
- reliable continuous integration, with automated tests on every change;
- feature flags to ship unfinished code without turning it on for users;
- fast code reviews, so as not to block others.
The benefit: avoiding painful merges of branches that have drifted too far apart, and being able to ship to production at any time. DORA research on software team performance associates this practice with the teams that ship most often and most smoothly.
Why it matters when hiring
A team practicing trunk-based development expects developers used to breaking their work into small, shippable changes. A candidate coming from a long-branch GitFlow setup can adapt, but it needs checking. Ask about the typical size of their pull requests and how they would ship a feature that takes three weeks: the expected answer involves feature flags.