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Enforcing Branch Naming Conventions

Introduction

Section titled “Introduction”

Consistent branch names clarify purpose and automate workflows. GitLab push rules let you reject branches that do not match a regular expression.

Configure Branch Naming Rules

Section titled “Configure Branch Naming Rules”
  1. Go to your project and open Settings > Repository.
  2. Expand Push Rules.
  3. In Branch name pattern, enter a regex such as: 
    ^(feature|bugfix|hotfix)\/.*
  4. Click Save changes.

Regex Examples

Section titled “Regex Examples”
  • ^feature\/ – require branches to start with feature/.
  • ^(bugfix|hotfix)\/JIRA-\d+ – include a ticket ID.

Best Practices

Section titled “Best Practices”
  • Document branch patterns in CONTRIBUTING.md.
  • Apply rules at the group level for consistent enforcement across projects.
  • Combine with protected branches to guard main lines of development.

Further Reading

Section titled “Further Reading”