Git graphs: branches, merges, cherry-pick

简介 / Introduction

Git graph diagrams help developers understand branch creation, merge conflicts, and cherry-pick operations. Both PlantUML and Mermaid support text-based Git branch diagrams, making them easy to embed in documentation, READMEs, or blog posts. This article uses the same scenario — branching feature from main, making commits, merging back, and creating a hotfix — rendered in both engines for direct comparison.

PlantUML 版

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@startuml
skinparam defaultFontSize 14
gitgraph
   commit id: "Initial commit"
   branch feature
   checkout feature
   commit id: "Add feature A"
   commit id: "Add feature B"
   checkout main
   merge feature id: "Merge feature"
   branch hotfix
   checkout hotfix
   commit id: "Fix critical bug"
   checkout main
   merge hotfix id: "Merge hotfix"
@enduml

Mermaid 版

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gitGraph
   commit id: "Initial commit"
   branch feature
   commit id: "Add feature A"
   commit id: "Add feature B"
   checkout main
   merge feature id: "Merge feature"
   branch hotfix
   commit id: "Fix critical bug"
   checkout main
   merge hotfix id: "Merge hotfix"

对比 / Side-by-side

小结 / Wrap-up

PlantUML’s gitgraph syntax is more complete, supporting cherrypick, delete branch, and other advanced operations, making it suitable for complex team workflow documentation. Mermaid’s gitGraph is more lightweight and easier to embed in Markdown blogs, though advanced features like cherry-pick and branch deletion are not yet supported. Both allow style customization via skinparam / gitGraph directives — choose based on your project’s complexity and rendering environment.

Appendix: Cherry-pick Example (PlantUML only)

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@startuml
gitgraph
   commit id: "Initial commit"
   branch feature
   checkout feature
   commit id: "Experimental feature"
   checkout main
   cherrypick id: "Experimental feature"
   tag: "v1.1"
@enduml

Mermaid’s current version does not support cherry-pick visualization; commits in that form are silently ignored.