Branches and publishing in Nordcraft

Branches in Nordcraft allow you to develop new features or fix issues without affecting the live version of your project. They provide a safe environment to make and test changes before making them available to users.

When you create a new project, Nordcraft automatically creates a branch called start for you. The main branch represents what your users see. You cannot edit the main branch directly, but you can view it in the editor.

Branches work like branches on a tree:

• Your main branch is the trunk that users see
• New branches grow from this trunk
• When a branch is complete, it can be merged back into the trunk
• When a branch is merged, it becomes becomes part of the trunk

If you're familiar with git version control, Nordcraft branches work in the same way.

Using separate branches for individual features or fixes provides several benefits:

• Isolated development: Work on specific features without impacting other work in progress
• Easier collaboration: Reduce coordination overhead when multiple people work on the same project in parallel
• Stability of live version: The main branch remains stable with completed and tested features only
• Simplified testing: Test changes independently before publishing
• Reduced risk of conflicts: Minimize conflicts from simultaneous edits to the same project

Create new branch

1. 1

   On the project details page, click the Create branch button
2. 2

   Choose a descriptive name for the branch and confirm

When the branch is created, you are automatically taken to the editor to start working on that new branch.

You can have multiple active branches at the same time, each focusing on a different feature or fix.

You can preview your branch to test changes before publishing.

• Select your branch and click the Preview option
• This opens a preview at branch-project.nordcraft.site
• You can share this preview link with others for feedback
• All changes made on a branch are automatically synced to the preview link

When working in a branch, you can view all modifications made and compare them to the state of the main branch.

• Click the View changes button in the bottom bar of the editor or in project details
• Review all modifications made in your current branch
• Identify any conflicts that need resolving before publishing

View changes

1. 1

   Enter a description for your changes
2. 2

   Publish your branch
3. 3

   Navigate back to project details
4. 4

   Navigate back to this branch's editor
5. 5

   Delete your branch
6. 6

   Reset all changes for the selected page or component
7. 7

   Edit the selected page or component directly

When you're ready to make your changes live:

1. 1

   Enter a short description to your update (make your description descriptive, this will help you later in case you need to roll back)
2. 2

   Click the Publish branch button

Your changes will be merged into the main branch and become visible to users immediately.

Sync with main

Before publishing, your branch must be up to date with the latest changes in the main branch. If someone else has published changes since you created your branch, it will no longer be up-to-date, and you will need to sync with the main branch:

1. 1

   Click the Sync with main button to pull the newest version of the main branch into your working branch
2. 2

   Once synchronized, you can publish your changes

Merge conflict

Merge conflicts can occur when two branches have made changes to the same section of code. When this happens:

1. 1

   Nordcraft will identify and highlight the conflicting changes
2. 2

   You will need to decide which changes to keep:
   • Reset your branch's changes to use the main branch version
   • Reset main's changes to keep your branch's version
3. 3

   For each conflict, select the appropriate reset option

After resolving all conflicts, you can complete the sync with main.

If you discover issues on your live project after publishing, you may need to revert to a previous version of your project. This is known as a rollback.

1. 1

   Go to the version history section in project details
2. 2

   Find the version you know worked correctly
3. 3

   Click the Rollback button next to that version
4. 4

   Confirm the rollback

This will restore your live application to the selected version state immediately, overwriting the current version.