What is Trunk-Based Development?
Trunk-based development (TBD) is a source-control branching model where all developers commit to a single branch ("trunk" or "main") at least once per day.
Trunk-based development (TBD) is a source-control branching model where all developers commit to a single branch ("trunk" or "main") at least once per day. Long-lived feature branches are avoided; short-lived branches (less than 24 hours) are acceptable.
TBD enables continuous integration by ensuring that integration happens continuously — every commit is integrated immediately, not after weeks of branch divergence. Feature flags gate incomplete features, allowing code to be merged to trunk before the feature is fully complete.
The alternative — GitFlow with long-lived branches — creates merge conflicts, delays integration, and hides bugs that only appear when branches finally merge. Research by DORA (DevOps Research and Assessment) shows trunk-based development is a strong predictor of elite software delivery performance.
Why It Matters
Trunk-based development is one of the strongest predictors of high-performing engineering teams. It enables continuous deployment, reduces merge conflicts, and forces early integration of changes.
Frequently Asked Questions
Is trunk-based development risky?
Counter-intuitively, it's less risky than long-lived branches. Small, frequent merges are easier to review, test, and roll back than large, infrequent merges. Feature flags handle incomplete features.
TBD vs GitFlow?
GitFlow works for infrequent releases. TBD works for continuous deployment. DORA research shows TBD teams deploy more frequently with lower failure rates.
Related Terms
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