5.1 Branching Strategy

The repository uses a three-branch strategy: lab, staging, and main.

Branch Purposes

Branch	Purpose	Who Pushes	Deployment Target
lab	CML validation	Automation Engineers	CML lab environment
staging	Pre-production testing	Network Architect (via PR approval)	Staging infrastructure
main	Production deployment	Network Operations (via PR approval)	Production network

Workflow

feature/add-branch-site
       ↓ (pull request)
      lab
       ↓ (validation passes, PR approved)
   staging
       ↓ (final testing, PR approved)
     main → Production Deployment

Example Commands

# Create feature branch
git checkout -b feature/configure-dot1x-ports

# Make changes, commit
git add .
git commit -m "Add 802.1X port configuration playbook"

# Push to lab
git push origin feature/configure-dot1x-ports

# Create pull request to lab branch via GitHub/GitLab UI

---

Related Sections: - 5.2 Rollback Using Git - 2.3 Role Separation