Branches

The typical day-to-day workflow includes constant code changes made by developers. As the code evolves, quality assurance teams must update tests to maintain accurate test coverage. You may need to add tests for a new feature without affecting existing suites, or your team may include multiple specialists who need to work independently.

For all these cases, Testomat.io provides test branching and versioning — allowing teams to work on isolated changes without impacting each other or the Main branch.

These are the core actions available when working with branches:

• Create new branches (including directly from Jira)
• Switch between branches
• Compare changes with Main (Diff)
• Merge changes to Main (excluding diverged items)
• Replace changes in Main (including diverged items)
• Revert a merge (branch returns to Active)
• Delete a branch permanently

Supported Merge Changes

Here’s a quick overview of what changes are supported in Testomat.io branches and will be merged into Main:

• CRUD actions in folders, suites, and tests
• Labels (assign / unassign)
• Tags (assign / unassign)
• Attachments (add to the test body or delete)
• Jira issue linking (link / unlink)
• CRUD actions in comments

How to Create a Branch

1. Navigate to the Branches page
2. Enter a branch title
3. Click the Create button

Your new branch will appear under the Active tab. You can create as many branches as needed and switch between them at any time.

How to Work within a Branch

After creating a branch, switch to it to start working.

Switch to a Branch

1. Click ’…’ menu next to the created branch
2. Click the Switch to this branch button

Alternative way to switch to a branch:

1. Open the created branch
2. Click Switch to Branch button

Inside the branch, you can manage folders, suites, and tests. All new or modified items are marked with a badge.

Note

Drag & Drop and the Move option are disabled in branches to prevent potential data loss and accidental structural conflicts.

While working in a branch, the current branch name is displayed as a badge in the bottom-right corner of the any page. Clicking this badge takes you directly to the Branches page and highlights the current branch, allowing you to quickly compare it with Main.

Automated Tests in Branches

When testing different versions of your software you may need to add automated tests to a specific branch for some reason. Testomat.io allows working with automated tests within a branch, separately from Main:

• create a new branch during import using TESTOMATIO_BRANCH parameter, learn more here
• import tests into a chosen branch, learn more here

Switch Back to Main

If you need to switch back to Main before merging, you can do it from the Branches page:

Or from a specific branch:

1. Navigate to the Branches page
2. Open the Active tab
3. Click the branch you need
4. Click the Switch to Main button

Compare Changes with Main

You can compare changes with Main:

1. Navigate to the Branches page
2. Open the Active tab
3. Click the branch you want to compare:

• Test Changes tab – displays changes at the individual test
• Suite Changes tab – displays changes at the suite level
• Structure tab – displays all changes to the structure using a side-by-side diff view

4. Open the test/suite you want to compare

See the diff for a test or suite between Main and the current branch.

Merge and Replace to Main

After completing work in a branch, you can merge or replace your changes in Main.

Merge a Branch

1. Navigate to the Branches page
2. Open the branch you want to merge
3. Click the Merge dropdown
4. Select the Merge button

Replace a Branch

1. Navigate to the Branches page
2. Open the branch you want to replace
3. Click the Merge dropdown
4. Select the Replace button

Difference between Merge and Replace

• Merge: applies all changes from the current branch except diverged tests and suites. Only modifications made in the branch are merged into Main.

• Replace: applies all changes from the current branch, including diverged tests and suites. This fully replaces Main with the branch, so the Main can be off-track.

Revert Merge

If a merge caused unintended changes or issues, you can revert a merge using one of the following methods:

From the Branches Page

1. Navigate to the Branches page
2. Open the Merged tab
3. Find the branch you want to revert
4. Click Revert Merge button

From the Pulse Page

You can also revert a merge directly from the project activity log:

1. Navigate to the Pulse page
2. Find and open the merged branch entry labeled Bulk edit applied
3. Click the Rollback button

After the revert/rollback:

• the branch returns to the Active tab
• all merged changes are undone
• a new log entry appears Bulk edit applied → Restored bulk operation in Pulse

This log confirms that the merge has been successfully reverted.

Working with Forks

When the same test is modified in different branches, Testomat.io automatically creates Forks. You can switch between the original item and its forks at any time from this tab.

1. Navigate to the Tests page
2. Open the desired test
3. Open the Forks tab
4. Click the Switch to it button

This makes it easy to track differences between branches and navigate to the version you need.

How to Delete a Branch

You can delete branches when they are no longer needed.

Delete a Single Branch

1. Navigate to the Branches page
2. Open the Active or Merged tab
3. Click the ’…’ menu next to the branch you want to delete
4. Select Delete button

Delete All Merged Branches

1. Navigate to the Branches page
2. Open the Active or Merged tab
3. Click the ’…’ menu in the top-right corner of the tab
4. Select Delete All Merged Branches

Note

Deleting a branch is permanent and cannot be undone. Once deleted, the branch cannot be restored, and any previously merged changes cannot be reverted.