🛠️ SMARTSCHOLAR GIT WORKFLOW GUIDE
This document explains how we (the SmartScholar team) will collaborate on this project using Git and GitHub.
🔹 1. Branches
main → clean, stable, production-ready code
dev → integration branch for new features
feature/ → each task/feature goes here (e.g. feature/landing-page, feature/login-form)
🔹 2. Getting Started
Clone the repo:
git clone https://github.com/YOUR-USERNAME/smartscholar.git
cd smartscholar
Checkout dev:
git checkout dev
git pull origin dev
🔹 3. Starting New Work
Always branch off dev:
git checkout dev
git pull origin dev
git checkout -b feature/your-feature-name
Do your work, commit, and push:
git add .
git commit -m "feat: short description of change"
git push -u origin feature/your-feature-name
🔹 4. Pull Requests (PRs)
After pushing your branch, open a Pull Request into dev on GitHub.
PR Title: Feature: Short description
PR Description: explain what changed + screenshots if UI.
Assign the other team member as reviewer.
After approval → Merge into dev (prefer “Squash and Merge” for clean history).
🔹 5. Staying Up to Date
Before starting new work each day:
git checkout dev
git pull origin dev
git checkout feature/your-feature-name
git merge dev
If there are conflicts:
Fix the conflict in code (choose the right version).
Run:
git add .
git commit
git push
🔹 6. Simple Rules
✅ Never code directly on main or dev
✅ Always branch off dev for new work
✅ Commit often with clear messages
✅ Push your branch and create a PR into dev
✅ Pull latest dev before starting your work