Real-world workflows

We can use jj at this point, but I wouldn’t say our workflow is great. In this chapter, we’re going to explore two different workflows that are popular with jj users. Like git, jj is extremely flexible, and so you can customize your workflow in many ways, but I’d like to show you two examples. For me, understanding the basics we’ve talked about wasn’t tough, but when I actually sat down to use jj, I found myself tripping up a bit. With a few more commands, we can have nicer workflows that let us work a bit more naturally.

We’ll start with the “squash workflow,” as it is the workflow that Martin, the creator of jj, prefers. We’ll then talk about the “edit workflow,” which is popular among people who don’t like the squash workflow. Finally, we’ll cover three commands you’ll want whichever workflow you settle on: jj split, which pulls one change apart into two, jj absorb, which files a pile of small fixes back into the commits they belong to, and jj diffedit, which reaches into a single commit and fixes what it contains.