?? Trunk-Based Development: The Power Move for Startups and Scaling Teams
Decebal Dobrica
Platform/Founding/Staff/Principal/Full Stack Engineer || Contractor | AWS, Rust, Move SUI, Cryptocurrency | Boosted developer productivity by 300% through innovative tech stack optimization.
Startups thrive on speed, focus, and adaptability. When your team is small and your goals are ambitious, your development approach needs to match that energy. Enter trunk-based development (TBD)—a lightweight, high-efficiency strategy where developers commit frequent, small changes directly to the main branch.
For startups, TBD isn’t just a “nice-to-have”; it’s a strategic enabler. It keeps your team focused, your codebase manageable, and your product moving forward without unnecessary complexity. Far from being a niche practice, TBD has proven itself as a powerful framework for startups building quickly and scaling confidently. It’s also the next step in the series I’ve been writing about modern development practices for startups, following monorepos and serverless innovations. Let’s explore why TBD works, how to set it up, tackle misconceptions, and delve into how CI/CD pipelines and branch environments amplify its success.
?? What is Trunk-Based Development?
TBD is a development workflow where changes are continuously integrated into the main branch, avoiding long-lived feature branches. Instead of multiple streams of isolated work, TBD keeps your team aligned and your codebase moving forward.
Key elements of TBD include:
? Small, frequent commits: Reducing risk and making progress visible.
? Continuous integration: Automated tests ensure each change integrates smoothly.
? Feature flags: Enabling or disabling features at runtime, decoupling deployment from release.
For startups, this means faster iterations, fewer conflicts, and less time spent on tedious merges.
??? Why TBD Empowers Startups
Small teams have an edge—they’re nimble, adaptable, and laser-focused. TBD amplifies these strengths by eliminating unnecessary complexity. Here’s how:
1. Minimized Merge Conflicts
Long-lived feature branches are merge-conflict magnets, especially in fast-moving codebases. TBD keeps everyone working in the same space, integrating frequently and reducing the risk of bottlenecks.
2. Faster Feedback Loops
With TBD, every commit triggers automated tests, providing near-instant feedback. This makes bugs easier to catch and ensures the codebase remains stable—critical for startups shipping frequently.
3. Clear Progress Tracking
TBD keeps all work visible in the main branch. No more hunting through a maze of branches to figure out what’s done and what’s not. For founders and non-technical stakeholders, this transparency is gold.
4. Future-Ready Foundations
Scaling starts with strong fundamentals. TBD prepares your team for growth by fostering disciplined coding practices, automating testing, and embedding feature flags—all tools that scale effortlessly.
?? Breaking Down Old Fallacies About TBD
Despite its growing popularity, TBD has long faced criticism rooted in misconceptions. Let’s put these myths to rest:
1. “It’s too risky to commit directly to the trunk.”
Not true. With robust automated tests, TBD is safer than feature branching. Continuous testing ensures that errors are caught early, and small commits make it easier to pinpoint and fix issues.
2. “It doesn’t work for large teams.”
In reality, TBD scales beautifully with tools like feature flags and strong CI/CD pipelines. Tech giants like Google, Netflix, and Amazon rely on it for precisely this reason—it fosters collaboration without chaos.
3. “TBD means releasing unfinished features.”
This is where feature flags shine. Developers can merge incomplete work into the trunk without exposing it to users, keeping the main branch stable and deployable at all times.
4. “It’s harder to manage incomplete work.”
Actually, TBD simplifies management by eliminating stale branches and making all work visible in one place. Coupled with branch environments (more on that below), it’s easy to test and validate progress.
?? Strong CI/CD Pipelines with Branch Environments: The Backbone of TBD
For TBD to work seamlessly, strong CI/CD pipelines are essential. These pipelines automate testing, building, and deploying changes, ensuring the trunk remains stable and production-ready. Here’s how to supercharge TBD with branch environments:
1. Automated Testing
? Every commit triggers a suite of tests—unit, integration, and end-to-end—catching issues before they reach production.
? Tools like GitHub Actions, CircleCI, and Jenkins provide robust automation for any tech stack.
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2. Branch Environments for Manual Testing
? Branch environments create isolated instances of the application for testing specific changes.
? These environments allow QA teams, product managers, and even stakeholders to manually validate features without affecting the main branch or production.
? Tools like Vercel, Netlify, and Kubernetes namespaces make it easy to spin up and manage these environments.
3. Seamless Deployment
? With TBD, the trunk is always deployable. CI/CD pipelines automate the release process, making deployments predictable and stress-free.
? Blue-green deployments or canary releases further enhance stability by rolling out changes gradually.
Branch environments are a game-changer, enabling manual testing without sacrificing the agility and simplicity of TBD.
?? The Role of Feature Flags in TBD
Feature flags are the unsung heroes of TBD, enabling teams to manage features without branching chaos. They allow developers to:
? Test in Production: Safely deploy code while keeping incomplete features hidden.
? Roll Out Incrementally: Gradually release features to subsets of users.
? Disable on Demand: Instantly turn off features causing issues, minimizing downtime.
For startups, feature flags mean you can experiment fearlessly while maintaining stability—a crucial balance when you’re building and scaling at the same time.
?? Scaling TBD Beyond Startups
While TBD is ideal for small teams, it’s equally effective at scale. The keys to success include:
? Strong CI/CD Pipelines: Automating builds, tests, and deployments ensures the trunk remains stable as teams grow.
? Personal Responsibility: Developers must own their work, ensuring code quality and resolving issues promptly.
? Cultural Buy-In: TBD thrives in environments where collaboration and trust are valued.
By adopting TBD early, startups can build habits and infrastructure that scale seamlessly, avoiding technical debt and inefficiencies down the road.
?? Part of a Bigger Picture
This article is part of my ongoing series exploring modern development practices for startups. If you’re curious about other strategies that can transform your team, check out:
?? Why Your Startup Should Adopt TBD
Trunk-based development isn’t just a workflow—it’s a philosophy of simplicity, speed, and alignment. For startups, it means:
? Faster iterations: Keeping your product evolving at the pace of your ambitions.
? Stronger collaboration: Eliminating silos and keeping the team aligned.
? Scaling with confidence: Building a codebase that grows as you do.
If your team is ready to move faster, build smarter, and set up for the future, it’s time to embrace trunk-based development. Let’s rewrite the playbook together. ??
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