Create branch directly from issue UI

[ajRiverav]

NOTE: UPVOTE THIS PROPOSAL IF YOU LIKE IT

rather than liking the discussion along with the discussion's "👍".

PROPOSAL

Write-up by https://github.com/krnlde (originally at isaacs/github#1125)

Coming from Jira [and @ajRiverav from Gitlab] [we] really miss the possibility to create a [feature|hotfix] branch that matches the current issue with its name and ID. I suggest to put this workflow in the sidebar of an issue where the Assignees, Labels and Milestones reside.

The following workflow would be nice:

Create an issue "My Example Issue" with id 42
See a "Create Branch for Issue"-button in the sidebar
Click on it and choose where to branch from (e.g. develop)
define the branch-type according to gitflow (feature/hotfix)
Create the branch whose name will be inferred from the issue's information feature/my-example-issue-42 or choose your own name
git fetch on your local machine and see the new branch
switch to it, make the necessary changes described in the issue
See the number of commits to this issue in the sidebar
Create a pull-request for the branch directly from the sidebar

[LifeIsStrange]

Just saying that this issue has 1533 likes! It is by far the most demanded feature request on github.com, will the company listen to its userbase or continue ignoring us?

[Shinigami92]

@ajRiverav At the top of your discussion description, could you write that folks should upvote the discussion along with the discussion's ":+1:" ?
This will bring up the discussion higher if sorted by votes.

[Shinigami92]

@TPS Yeah 😕 I visited this site extra on desktop so I can upvote it
Maybe we should tell GitHub 🤔

[LifeIsStrange]

The redundancy between liking the issue and the issue description really is a bad UX pattern, come on github...

[ajRiverav]

that ambiguity is a different issue but noted and agreed ;)

[fonsp]

I opened a separate discussion about this: #3474

[aron-hoogeveen]

I must say that I did not see the small hand symbol on that image and therefore it was not immediately clear where I should upvote. Maybe this can be changed to be more clear?

[JonathanLastrilla]

Come on github!

[ghost]

It's currently possible to do this with GitHub Apps, but a native integration would be nice.

[ajRiverav]

can you share references?

[ghost]

@ajRiverav I use the create-issue-branch GitHub app which was specifically designed for the purpose proposed in the original issue. Works pretty well.

[ajRiverav]

I use that one, too.

[PabloAlexis611]

Thanks for the suggestion @GitGangGuy, I just tried it out and works nice!

[ysquaredd]

The original issue had 134 comments and 1547 thumbs up for this feature. I hope that would be considered as part of this feedback.

[nachoal]

Started to use GH for setting up a good project management workflow and this feature would be really useful. The original issue as commented from @YuraYefymenko has lots of demand since 2017, please add!

[rjk]

It sounds like this isn't very important ... till you get used to this workflow (e.g. in jira/bitbucket), then you can't live without it.

It helps the project keep consistent branch names. It helps ensure developers follow the desired process by making it the easiest. And of course it simply makes branches for issues quick to create.

Please Github, make my life 27% better and implement this feature.

[bwklein]

This already works really well in GitLab. It creates the branch and the Merge Request (in Draft status) with one click.
https://docs.gitlab.com/ee/user/project/repository/web_editor.html#create-a-new-branch-from-an-issue

I just went to find out how to do this in GitHub and was disappointed to find out it didn't exist and found my way to this discussion by clicking through unresolved past issues.

[evi-liu]

Hey y'all. This feedback space is currently reserved for GitHub Discussions only. However, I've passed this feedback along to our Issues team so they can take a look.

[ajRiverav]

thx @evi-liu. How can we follow up in the future?

[jniclas]

Hey, has there been any progress on the feature in the last two months?
Can't wait to see this on the Website :)

[ajRiverav]

@evi-liu

[TPS]

Hey y'all. This feedback space is currently reserved for GitHub Discussions only. However, I've passed this feedback along to our Issues team so they can take a look.

This could now be moved to the new General category.

[robertwt7]

Come on github, lets do this 👍

[michellemerrill]

👋🏼 @krnlde @ajRiverav + everyone, thanks for the feedback here (and isaacs/github#1125)! Currently, this work is being prioritized internally. It will surface later on the public roadmap. Keep watching this space!

[borsTiHD]

Awesome :D

[krnlde]

I must be dreaming. An awesome dream though

[krisjans]

Great news!
Such small conveniences and attention to detail distinguishes truly great product from good one.

[michellemerrill]

👋🏼 @krnlde @ajRiverav + everyone, thanks for the feedback here (and isaacs/github#1125)! Currently, this work is being prioritized internally. It will surface later on the public roadmap. Keep watching this space!

📣 Update: This product enhancement published yesterday on our public roadmap! You can now track the issue here.

[michellemerrill]

📣 hi all: We are now in public Beta: #12290

[michellemerrill]

Also, locking this discussion, so we can centralize feedback about this feature at: #12290

[glebsts]

So, it is currently in "Future" on roadmap, which means "not before q3 2022". Sounds like really complicated feature.

[TPS]

Per #3441 (comment), this now in beta. Signup there if you wish.

[michellemerrill]

We are now in public beta: #12290

[andreimarcut]

This feature could improve the productivity of my development team by using GitHub standard configuration. In turn, this will also improve the privacy of my private project because right now I have to share my private repository with 3rd party code only to achieve the desired productivity. Setting up a 3rd party solution is also a time-consuming task.

I hope it's getting prioritized and developed soon.

I see only wins for everyone from every angle.

[dipree]

Hi 👋 I hope everyone is doing well! We are currently working on adding the functionality to allow creating a branch for an issue. If anyone is interested in trying it out early, please let me no with a comment here and I'll enable it for you.

[michael-hollander-philly-DAO]

I'd like to test too!

[ajRiverav]

this is becoming a super funny thread 😂

[michael-hollander-philly-DAO]

this is becoming a super funny thread 😂

Sorry!

[DamianMehers]

I too am feeling the pain - I check the issue page for a "create branch" whenever I am on it ... each time to be disappointed. Such a standard feature on other systems such as Azure Devops. I am always forgetting to "#Close <issue number" when creating a pull request, because I'm used to the Issue->Branch->Pull Request flow.

@dipree Please consider adding new beta testers if the release is not imminent.

[pietrovismara]

@DamianMehers I realized now that 21 hours ago the related issue has moved from "planning" to " Q1 2022 – Jan-Mar". The "in design" label was also replaced by the "beta" one. It looks like it's only a matter of weeks which sounds perfectly reasonable to me.

[ea0723]

Nice work, Dan! While the PM position didn’t work out for me, I really enjoyed the conversation I had with you and Jason - it’s so cool to see this solution coming to fruition! 😊 Hope you had a great holiday break and happy 2022! Cheers, Elena From: Daniel Adams ***@***.***> Date: Friday, January 7, 2022 at 11:46 AM To: github/feedback ***@***.***> Cc: Elena Newton ***@***.***>, Manual ***@***.***> Subject: Re: [github/feedback] Create branch directly from issue UI (Discussion #3441) Enabled for all of the above. You will see a new section in issues called "Development" with a "Create a branch" button. If you are a member of the repo can create branches linked to the issue for that particular repo. There are a few rough edges we still have to resolve. However, please don't hesitate to leave any feedback here. For anyone else who's not in yet, I'll have a look once a day and add you. — Reply to this email directly, view it on GitHub<#3441 (reply in thread)>, or unsubscribe<https://github.com/notifications/unsubscribe-auth/AAXHWMP7CROCU7K3PBHSJ4DUU4YGVANCNFSM4YJHYBCQ>. You are receiving this because you are subscribed to this thread.Message ID: ***@***.***>

[dipree]

Likewise @ea0723, hope you are doing well! 😊

[Bestra]

the app opens but the current branch doesn't change.

@jimhill thanks for speaking up! We have a PR open to fix that at the moment.

[TheNerdGuyLulu]

The modal opens when in full detail, but the button doesn't seem to work inside the project board

.

[Bestra]

@TheNerdGuyLulu thank you for finding that! I'll file an internal issue and we'll look into it.

[Bestra]

I have a PR open for the fix, it should be deployed by Monday.

[ajRiverav]

@dipree: Tried the beta. The flow feels natural and the branch creation is intuitive + does work :) . So far, it solves the issue I posted originally, which was about creating a branch from the browser.

cc: @Bestra

Issue 1

• After creating the branch, I observed

However, there was no PR created (at least it was not listed in the corresponding tab).

See

Issue 2

The "copy" button did not seem to work on latest (as of today) Safari.

It only copies the branch name, which may be sufficient, I guess.

Observation

It's very nice that one can see all the "associated" branches created ->

[dipree]

@ajRiverav great feedback, thank you.

1. We have intentionally decided not to create a PR alongside the branch because it's the same state as the source branch and of no initial value. However, the user can create one anytime and in the Development section the branch will get replaced with the PR automatically.
2. Nice catch. We'll fix that.

[ajRiverav]

@dipree, just FYI: I noticed this was shown on a repo for which I did not have permissions. Clicking on the link does nothing, as expected.

I mean, it's feels strange to see this as an option on a repo I can't work on.

e.g.

[Bestra]

@ajRiverav thanks! We show this functionality in a few places and I'm pretty sure this is one that we didn't catch! We'll take care of it shortly.