Jira + Bitbucket + SourceTree + gitflow - how to use sourcetree's gitflow features while creating branches in JIRA?

Jeremy Marquis

In SourceTree, I can use the gitflow button to start/complete features, hotfixes, etc. and it will automatically handle a lot of the gitflow details (and is well organized). However, this creates local branches and does not link them to JIRA issues.

In JIRA, I can create a branch from an issue. This branch is remote (in Bitbucket) and so there is no clear way to use the nice gitflow features of SourceTree.

How can I use both JIRA-initiated and tracked branches with the gitflow features of SourceTree?

Jeremy Marquis

I am new to all these tools and also git. I have only figured out 2 ways, neither particularly clean, intuitive, or satisfying, so I am hoping an expert can help me.

The first way is to create the branch in JIRA but don't check out from Bitbucket, then in SourceTree use gitflow button to create a new feature and change the source from the default to the new remote branch. The annoyance with this is that you have to remember to manually change the repos that pushes go to, every time, to the remote branch (and easy to make a mistake).

The second way is to create the issue branch in JIRA, checkout from bitbucket (which creates a local copy of the remote branch), and then use SourceTree gitflow to create feature/bugfix branches from this issue branch. The problem is that now you have a pointless intermediate branch that makes it harder to push your updates through the chain.