Creating and Protecting Branches in GitLab

Introduction

Creating branches allows you to isolate work, while protecting them prevents unwanted changes. This guide covers branch creation and how to protect branches by name or pattern. For overall management strategies, see Managing Protected Branches.

Create a New Branch

1. From the UI:
   • Navigate to your project in GitLab.
   • Go to Repository > Branches.
   • Click New branch, provide a name, and choose a base branch.
   • Click Create branch.
2. From the command line:

   git checkout -b feature/new-feature origin/main
   git push -u origin feature/new-feature

Protect the Branch

1. Go to Settings > Repository.
2. Expand Protected Branches.
3. In Branch name, either:
   • Enter the exact branch name (feature/new-feature), or
   • Use a wildcard like release/* to protect multiple branches.
4. Set allowed roles for merge and push.
5. Click Protect.

Further Reading

• GitLab Branch Basics
• GitLab Protected Branches