The classic Git Flow branching model, reimplemented in Go
git-flow-next is a free, open-source command-line tool that implements the Git-flow branching model as a modern Go program. It is developed and maintained by the team behind Tower, a commercial Git client, and serves as the successor to the original git-flow scripts and their git-flow-AVH fork, both of which are now discontinued. Because it reads the configuration already stored in a repository, it can be pointed at a project with years of git-flow history and simply picks up where the old tooling left off.
Beyond compatibility, the tool modernizes the model itself: it tracks parent-child relationships between branches and propagates merges between them, offers configurable merge strategies, supports Git worktrees, and lets teams define their own branch types instead of being limited to the hardcoded feature, release, hotfix and support set. Presets for GitHub Flow and GitLab Flow are included for teams that follow a different convention.
Installation takes one command on any major platform - Homebrew on macOS and Linux, winget or Scoop on Windows - or a direct download of a single small binary with no runtime dependencies. The tool is terminal-first by design; developers who prefer a graphical interface are the audience for Tower itself.
Featured in our discovery: git-flow-next: The Classic Git Flow, Rewritten in Go
init, feature, release, hotfix and support workflows with the familiar start, finish, publish and update verbs, backward compatible with existing git-flow and git-flow-AVH repositories.
Parent-child relationships between branches are understood and merges propagate automatically, so long-lived branches stop silently lagging behind production.
Define topic branch types beyond feature, release and hotfix; every custom type gets the same start, finish, publish and update ergonomics.
Ships presets for GitHub Flow and GitLab Flow, plus a from-scratch mode where branch types, naming conventions and merge behavior are fully configurable.
Yes. It is backward compatible with both the original git-flow and git-flow-AVH configurations, and a migration guide is provided for AVH users.
No. Presets for GitHub Flow and GitLab Flow are included, and branch types, naming conventions and merge behavior can all be defined from scratch.