| name | Approach: Trunk-Based Development for Agent-First Workflows |
| description | Trunk-based development (TBD) is a branching strategy where all developers (agents and humans) commit frequently to a single shared branch (`main`), with short-lived feature branches (<24 hours) us... |
| version | 1.0.0 |
| type | approach |
| category | operational-pattern |
Approach: Trunk-Based Development for Agent-First Workflows
Trunk-based development (TBD) is a branching strategy where all developers (agents and humans) commit frequently to a single shared branch (main), with short-lived feature branches (<24 hours) us...
Instructions
Trunk-based development (TBD) is a branching strategy where all developers (agents and humans) commit frequently to a single shared branch (main), with short-lived feature branches (<24 hours) used only for coordinated changes. This approach minimizes merge conflicts, accelerates feedback, and aligns naturally with agent task completion patterns.
Key principles:
- Single source of truth:
main branch is always deployable
- Small, frequent commits: Multiple commits per day
- Short-lived branches: Maximum 24 hours, prefer <4 hours
- Continuous validation: Every commit runs tests and checks
- Feature flags: Hide incomplete work, don't hold it in branches
- Rapid revert: Fix or rollback within 15 minutes of failure
When to use trunk-based development:
- ✅ Async multi-agent orchestration (this repository)
- ✅ Rapid iteration with frequent small changes
- ✅ Strong test coverage and automated validation
- ✅ Team comfortable with continuous integration discipline
When to avoid:
- ❌ Large, risky changes without adequate test coverage
- ❌ Teams without automated validation infrastructure
- ❌ Work requiring extended isolation (>24h)
