What Is A Merge

A merge brings the work from one branch into another. After a successful merge, the target branch contains every commit from both branches and the files reflect the combined result.

The standard workflow looks like this:

1. Switch to the branch you want to merge into (usually main).
2. Run git merge other-branch.

git switch main
git merge feature-login

Git looks at the two branches' histories and figures out how to combine them. Most of the time it does this automatically. The two main flavors of merge are:

• Fast-forward: main has not moved since the branch was created. Git just slides the main pointer forward.
• Three-way merge: both branches have new commits. Git creates a new "merge commit" that combines them.

You will see both shapes in the next two lessons.