Trunk Based Development

What is trunk-based development?

Trunk-based development is a software development practice that uses a single, centralized code repository, called a “trunk,” to store and manage all code changes. This practice is in contrast to other development approaches, such as branch-based development, in which developers create separate feature branches for each update or change.

In trunk-based development, all developers work directly on the trunk and introduce their code changes directly into it. This enables a continuous integration and deployment (CI/CD) process, where code changes are automatically created, tested, and deployed as they are made. Trunk-based development can help to reduce the complexity of the development process, since there are no release branches to manage.

Trunk-based development is often used in agile software development methodologies such as Extreme Programming (XP) and Scrum. It is well-suited for environments in which code changes are made frequently and rapid deployment is required. Trunk-based development can also be used in combination with other development practices, such as test-driven development (TDD) and pair programming, in order to improve the quality and efficiency of the development process.

Trunk-based development benefits:

• it simplifies the development process
• it makes it easier for developers to collaborate and coordinate their work
• it reduces the risk of merge conflicts, since changes are integrated into the trunk more frequently.