Slash-Separated Branch Naming Convention

Q: Slash-Separated Branch Naming Convention

## Slash-Separated Branch Naming Slash-separated naming extends the basic type/description pattern by adding additional hierarchy levels. This creates a folder-like structure that some git clients and tools can display as a tree, making branch organization more visual. ### Formats type/ticket/description type/team/ticket-description type/scope/ticket/description ### Examples | Structure | Branch Name | |----------|-------------| | Type + Ticket + Title | feature/PROJ-123/add-user-auth | |

Use slash-separated branch names to create hierarchical structures. Organize branches by type, team, or scope using multiple path segments.

Naming Conventions

Detailed Explanation

Slash-Separated Branch Naming

Slash-separated naming extends the basic type/description pattern by adding additional hierarchy levels. This creates a folder-like structure that some git clients and tools can display as a tree, making branch organization more visual.

Formats

type/ticket/description
type/team/ticket-description
type/scope/ticket/description

Examples

Structure	Branch Name
Type + Ticket + Title	`feature/PROJ-123/add-user-auth`
Type + Team + Ticket	`feature/backend/PROJ-123-api-endpoints`
Type + Scope + Description	`bugfix/payments/fix-double-charge`
User-scoped	`feature/alice/PROJ-456-dashboard-redesign`

Advantages of Hierarchical Branch Names

Tree view in git clients — Tools like SourceTree, GitKraken, and VS Code's Git Graph display slash-separated names as a folder tree, making it easy to browse branches by type or team.
Wildcard patterns — CI/CD systems and branch protection rules can match on any level: feature/** matches all feature branches regardless of sub-structure, while feature/backend/* targets only backend features.
Team organization — Large teams can include the team or developer name as a namespace: feature/platform/PROJ-123-migrate-auth vs feature/mobile/PROJ-456-biometric-login.
Scope isolation — When branches reference specific modules or services, the scope segment provides context: bugfix/api/fix-rate-limit-header vs bugfix/ui/fix-modal-overflow.

Considerations

Some older git tools may not handle deep nesting well (more than 3 levels)
Longer branch names can be cumbersome in commit messages and terminal output
Team must agree on the hierarchy depth and ordering to maintain consistency
The / character means you cannot have a branch named feature if feature/something exists (git limitation)

Use Case

A large engineering organization with multiple teams (backend, frontend, mobile, infra) needs branch names that indicate both the branch type and the responsible team for quick filtering in their monorepo.

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