Keep production clean while developing across two machines. Three branches, one direction of flow: experiment on a feature branch, integrate on dev_branch (synced between your laptop and desktop), and release to main — the only branch your server ever pulls.

The mental model

Branch What it’s for Who touches it
main Stable, production-ready code Deploy target only (e.g. an EC2 instance)
dev_branch Everyday development and testing Your laptop and desktop, kept in sync via origin
feature/* Larger experiments, in isolation Optional — branched off dev_branch

One rule: changes only ever flow upward — feature/* → dev_branch → main. The server never commits; it only pulls main.

The flow at a glance

Git workflow: feature branches merge into dev_branch (synced across laptop and desktop), dev_branch merges into main, and main deploys to an EC2 server via git pull.

Everyday development

Run these on whichever machine you’re sitting at. Start every session with a pull so the two machines never drift.

Step Command
Switch to the dev branch git checkout dev_branch
Get the latest work git pull origin dev_branch
Stage your changes git add .
Commit with a message git commit -m "Describe your changes"
Share it back git push origin dev_branch

Feature branches (optional)

For anything large or risky, isolate it — then fold it back into dev_branch.

Step Command
Branch off dev git checkout -b feature_name dev_branch
…do the work, commit as usual…  
Return to dev git checkout dev_branch
Merge the feature in git merge feature_name

Release → deploy

When dev_branch is tested and you’re happy, promote it to main from your local machine, then pull it on the server.

On your laptop / desktop:

Step Command
Switch to main git checkout main
Make sure it’s current git pull origin main
Merge dev into main git merge dev_branch
Publish main git push origin main

On the server (EC2):

Step Command
Switch to main git checkout main
Pull the release git pull origin main
Restart / reload (your app’s restart step)

First-time setup

Point a fresh local repo at its GitHub remote and push main once:

git remote add origin https://github.com/your-user/your-repo.git
git branch -M main
git push -u origin main

Remember: if it isn’t on main, it isn’t deployed. Keep dev_branch synced before you start, and let main stay boring.