Stacked diffs, or stacked PRs, introduce a more structured, incremental approach to integrating code changes. This methodology not only preserves quality standards but also ensures continuous, uninterrupted progress throughout a project’s lifecycle. In this guide, we'll take a look at some challenges that stacking addresses and the benefits of implementing this kind of workflow for your development teams.
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1. Incremental development and review
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1. Incremental Development and Review
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Challenge: Conventional pull requests often span numerous features or bug fixes. As a result, code reviews become cumbersome, leading to delays, incomplete assessments, or quality compromises.
Advantage of stacking: By subdividing changes into smaller, logically distinct units, each diff can be examined with precision and care. Reviewers engage with manageable portions of code, leading to more thorough evaluations and a superior codebase. This step-by-step approach transforms a daunting process into a series of manageable, incremental reviews.
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2. Sustained development momentum
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2. Continuity of Work
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Challenge: When a large pull request stalls during review, developers may be forced to wait, resulting in downtime and disrupted workflows.
Advantage of stacking: With stacked PRs, a developer can continue advancing subsequent tasks while earlier changes await review. This parallelization minimizes idle time, enhances overall productivity, and maintains a steady cadence of feature delivery.
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3. Conflict resolution and code integration
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3. Conflict Resolution and Code Integration
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Challenge: Integrating extensive code updates into an active main branch can trigger a cascade of conflicts and regressions, complicating the release process.
Advantage of stacking: Smaller, discrete diffs simplify rebasing and conflict resolution. When conflicts occur, they are confined to a narrower scope, making them quicker and less error-prone to fix. This efficiency results in a more reliable and predictable integration cycle.
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4. Improved traceability and accountability
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4. Improved Traceability and Accountability
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Challenge: Within large, monolithic pull requests, it can be difficult to identify the origin of specific changes or assign responsibility for them.
Advantage of stacking: Each stacked diff corresponds to a well-defined, self-contained modification. This granularity makes it simpler to trace the evolution of a particular change, isolate issues, and assign accountability to the appropriate contributors. The result is greater transparency and improved maintainability of the codebase.
5 - Support from modern tools
Challenge: Manually managing interdependent changes and updates can be time-consuming and prone to errors.
Advantage of stacking: Modern tools, such as Graphite, facilitate stacked diffs by tracking dependencies between changes, streamlining updates, and allowing developers to focus on coding rather than administrative overhead. These tools simplify the workflow and reinforce its benefits.
Example Scenario
Consider a new feature spanning multiple layers of an application: backend logic, an API endpoint, and a user interface component. Using stacked diffs:
- Introduce and merge the backend changes first.
- Build the new API endpoint atop the updated backend and submit that as the second diff.
- Implement the UI component based on the completed API, and submit this as a third diff.
Each component of the feature undergoes independent review. This compartmentalized scrutiny makes the process more manageable and increases the likelihood of identifying and resolving issues before they compound.
How Graphite can help
<<<<<<< Updated upstream Graphite simplifies the stacked diffs workflow by enabling developers to build upon open pull requests without waiting for merges. With its CLI and VS Code extension, Graphite allows effortless creation and management of stacked pull requests, ensuring continuity and reducing bottlenecks. Its integration with GitHub and smart CI capabilities further streamline reviews by focusing on actionable changes, helping teams ship smaller PRs with faster cycles. By adopting Graphite, teams can optimize their workflows, reduce delays, and focus on delivering high-quality code efficiently ======= Each part of the feature is reviewed separately, reducing the cognitive load on reviewers and increasing the likelihood of catching issues.
5. Support from Modern Tools
Problem: Managing dependencies between changes manually can be complex and error-prone.
Stacked Diffs Solution: Tools like Graphite provide dedicated support for stacked diffs, handling the complexity of tracking and updating the stack, allowing developers to focus on writing code rather than managing it.
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Conclusion
Stacked diffs represent a strategic shift towards modular, efficient, and quality-centric development. Learning and implementing this workflow can significantly enhance the code review process, reduce integration headaches, and maintain a smooth, uninterrupted development pipeline. Plus, tools like Graphite make adopting stacked PRs easy, providing powerful features to accelerate your code review cycles.