Amazon CodeCatalyst is no longer open to new customers. Existing customers can continue to use the service as normal. For more information, see [How to migrate from CodeCatalyst](migration.md).

# Organizing your source code work with branches in Amazon CodeCatalyst
<a name="source-branches"></a>

In Git, branches are pointers or references to a commit. In development, they're a convenient way to organize your work. You can use branches to separate work on a new or different version of files without affecting work in other branches. You can use branches to develop new features, store a specific version of your project, and more. You can configure rules for branches in source repositories to limit certain actions on a branch to specific roles in that project.

Source repositories in Amazon CodeCatalyst have contents and a default branch regardless of how you create them. Linked repositories might not have a default branch or content, but are not usable by CodeCatalyst until you initialize them and create a default branch. When you create a project using a blueprint, CodeCatalyst creates a source repository for that project that includes a README.md file, sample code, workflow definitions, and other resources. When you create a source repository without using a blueprint, a README.md file is added for you as a first commit, and a *default branch* is created for you. This default branch is named *main*. This default branch is the one used as the base or default branch in local repositories (repos) when users clone the repository.

**Note**  
You can't delete the default branch. The first branch created for a source repository is the default branch for that repository. Additionally, search only displays results from the default branch. You can't search for code in other branches.

Creating a repository in CodeCatalyst also creates a first commit, which creates a *default branch* with a README.md file included in it. The name of that default branch is *main*. This is the default branch name used in the examples in this guide. 

**Topics**
+ [Creating a branch](source-create-delete-branch.md)
+ [Managing the default branch for a repository](source-branches-default-branch.md)
+ [Manage allowed actions for a branch with branch rules](source-branches-branch-rules.md)
+ [Git commands for branches](source-branches-git.md)
+ [Viewing branches and details](source-branches-view.md)
+ [Deleting a branch](source-branches-delete.md)