apply-forking-workflow

Apply Forking Workflow

Fork the canonical repository, add it as upstream, develop on a branch in your fork, keep your fork in sync, and submit changes via PR — so external contributors can participate without write access to the source repository.

Why This Is Best Practice

Adopted by: Every major open source project on GitHub uses the forking workflow as its primary contribution model — Linux kernel (via mailing list patches, the conceptual origin), CPython, React, Vue, Kubernetes, Node.js, and virtually all public GitHub repositories; GitHub built its entire collaboration model around forks; Chacon & Straub's "Pro Git" (the definitive Git reference, available at git-scm.com) dedicates Chapter 5 to distributed workflows with forking as the primary external-contributor model Impact: The Linux kernel (maintained via fork-based patch submission since 2005) receives contributions from 4,000+ developers across 500+ organizations annually — the largest collaborative software project in history, enabled entirely by fork-based contribution; GitHub's 2023 Octoverse report: 94 million developers on GitHub, the majority contributing to projects they don't own via forks; forking enables contribution without coordination overhead — contributors work independently on their fork with zero impact on the upstream repository until a PR is opened Why best: Shared-branch models (where all contributors push to the same repository) require write-access grants for every contributor — impractical for public projects and creates security exposure in enterprise for contractors and external teams; forking isolates contributor work completely — a broken fork has zero impact on upstream; the alternative (patch files via email, the pre-GitHub model) is the Linux kernel's original method, which forking on GitHub simplified while preserving the same isolation model

Sources: Chacon & Straub "Pro Git" 2nd edition, Ch. 5 "Distributed Git" (git-scm.com/book); GitHub "Forking a repository" (docs.github.com); Linux kernel "Submitting patches" (kernel.org); Torvalds "Git in 5 minutes" origin documentation

Steps

1. Fork the repository

On GitHub/GitLab/Bitbucket: click "Fork" on the upstream repository page.

This creates a full copy of the repository under your own account or organization:

upstream:  github.com/org/project          (you have read access; no push)
your fork: github.com/your-username/project (you have full write access)

The fork is an independent Git repository. Changes to your fork do not affect upstream until you open a PR.

2. Clone your fork locally

git clone git@github.com:your-username/project.git
cd project

Clone your fork, not upstream. Your fork's remote is origin by default.

3. Add the upstream remote

git remote add upstream git@github.com:org/project.git

Verify both remotes are configured:

git remote -v
# origin    git@github.com:your-username/project.git (fetch)
# origin    git@github.com:your-username/project.git (push)
# upstream  git@github.com:org/project.git (fetch)
# upstream  git@github.com:org/project.git (push)

upstream = canonical repository (read-only in practice — you cannot push) origin = your fork (full write access)

Never push directly to upstream. You do not have write access; the push will fail. All pushes go to origin.

4. Keep your fork in sync with upstream

Before starting any new work, sync your fork's main with upstream main:

git checkout main
git fetch upstream
git merge upstream/main        # fast-forward if no local changes on main
git push origin main           # keep your fork's remote main in sync

Or with rebase (cleaner history):

git fetch upstream
git rebase upstream/main
git push origin main --force-with-lease

Frequency: Sync before starting every new branch. For active projects, sync daily. A fork that drifts far behind upstream accumulates merge conflicts that are expensive to resolve.

5. Create a feature branch on your fork

Never work directly on main — always use a branch:

git checkout main
git checkout -b fix/typo-in-readme

Branch naming follows the same conventions as any branching strategy:

feature/add-dark-mode
fix/null-pointer-in-parser
docs/update-contributing-guide
chore/upgrade-eslint-9

Develop on this branch. Commit as you normally would:

git add -p
git commit -m "fix: correct typo in README installation section"
git push origin fix/typo-in-readme

6. Open a pull request from your fork to upstream

On GitHub: navigate to the upstream repository → "Pull requests" → "New pull request" → "compare across forks".

base repository: org/project          base: main
head repository: your-username/project  compare: fix/typo-in-readme

PR description for external contributions:

• Explain what the change does and why
• Reference the issue it addresses: "Closes #42"
• If the project has a CONTRIBUTING.md, follow its PR template
• Sign a CLA if the project requires one (common for Apache, Google, Meta projects)

Check contribution guidelines first: Most major projects have a CONTRIBUTING.md or CONTRIBUTING.rst that specifies:

• Required commit message format
• Whether to squash commits before submitting
• CLA requirements
• Code style and test requirements

Failing to follow contribution guidelines is the primary reason external PRs are rejected without review.

7. Respond to review feedback

Upstream maintainers review your PR. To update it based on feedback:

git checkout fix/typo-in-readme
# make changes
git add -p
git commit -m "fix: address review feedback — use American English spelling"
git push origin fix/typo-in-readme

Pushing additional commits to the same branch automatically updates the PR.

Squashing: Some projects request squashed commits before merge. If asked:

git rebase -i upstream/main
# mark all but the first commit as 'squash' or 's'
git push origin fix/typo-in-readme --force-with-lease

Use --force-with-lease when force-pushing — it fails if someone else pushed to your branch since your last fetch.

8. Clean up after merge

After the upstream maintainer merges your PR:

# Sync your fork's main
git checkout main
git fetch upstream
git merge upstream/main
git push origin main

# Delete the merged branch locally and remotely
git branch -d fix/typo-in-readme
git push origin --delete fix/typo-in-readme

GitHub offers automatic branch deletion after PR merge — enable this in your fork's settings if you frequently contribute.

Rules

• Always add upstream remote immediately after cloning — never lose the connection to the canonical source
• Never push to upstream — your fork is origin; push only there
• Sync main from upstream before starting every new branch — stale forks accumulate conflicts
• Develop on branches, never directly on main — main must stay clean to sync with upstream
• Read CONTRIBUTING.md before opening a PR — projects reject non-compliant PRs without review
• --force-with-lease when force-pushing, never --force — prevents overwriting others' work

Common Mistakes

• Forgetting to add upstream remote: contributors clone their fork and never add upstream — they have no way to sync with the canonical source; add it as step one, immediately after clone
• Working on fork's main directly: making changes to main in your fork makes it impossible to sync cleanly with upstream/main; always use branches, reserve main as a sync target only
• Not syncing before branching: branching from a stale main that's 100 commits behind upstream — the PR will have massive conflicts; always git fetch upstream && git merge upstream/main before creating a new branch
• Opening PR without reading CONTRIBUTING.md: the most common reason first-time contributors have PRs closed immediately; contribution guidelines exist because maintainers have spent years documenting how to contribute correctly
• Force-pushing main in your fork: main should always fast-forward from upstream; if you need to force-push main, you've made commits to it and need to reset it: git checkout main && git reset --hard upstream/main && git push origin main --force-with-lease

When NOT to Use

• When you have direct write access to the repository — if you're on the core team, use the shared-branch workflow (GitHub Flow, GitLab Flow, or GitFlow); forking when you have push access adds unnecessary indirection
• Internal team repositories where all contributors are trusted employees with push access — forking is the open-source model for untrusted-contributor isolation; internal teams don't need that isolation and can work in the shared repository directly