top of page

Atomic Fusion

Unlocking Collaboration with Bubble.io's New Version Control

Updated: Oct 11, 2023


The evolution of Bubble.io continues to dazzle as they recently unveiled a revamped version control system, further ensuring that team collaboration remains robust and scalable. With over a decade in the no-code realm, it seems like Bubble will continue to be an increasingly viable option to writing code for app development. Let's look at what these recent changes mean for your teams, projects and businesses.


Why This Revamp Matters


Collaboration and transparency form the backbone of every successful development project. By bringing best practices from the software industry into their new version control system, Bubble.io ensures that your team collaborates seamlessly, without fear of overwriting each other’s work or introducing inadvertent errors. It's all about making sure that as your business grows, your ability to manage and oversee your projects scales too. While this problem was solved with the Git system for version control, Bubble development still depended on save points and backups.


Diving Into The New Features


1. Branch Tree Visualization

Divide your project into independent branches, enabling safer modifications without jeopardizing other segments. With the new Branch Tree feature, navigating becomes a breeze. Not only can you track the lineage and relationships between branches, but you can also monitor edits and contributors in real-time. The added ability to include branch descriptions further improves clarity about the scope of each branch.


Image: Bubble.io


2. Main & Hotfix Branches

Introducing specific branch types is a game-changer. The Main branch aids in deployment coordination, ensuring that only the right elements get deployed. Meanwhile, the Hotfix branch comes in handy when quick bug fixes or time-sensitive modifications are required, without tampering with ongoing work in the Main branch.



3. Guided Merge Flow & Conflict Resolution

Merging has always been a thorny issue in development. Bubble's new guided merge flow makes it smoother than ever. If branches have overlapping changes, the new UI assists users in resolving conflicts. Moreover, the merge flow allows previews at every step, and if things look amiss, you can halt the merge, negating the need to revert to previous savepoints.


Image: Bubble Forum


The Vision Behind the Revamp


Bubble's revamped version control isn't just a feature update; it's a long-term strategy aimed at ensuring that dev ops best practices are not lost on NoCode. NoCode has always been driven by the mission to democratize software creation. By introducing these changes, Bubble.io is essentially handing over more tools to developers, making the development process more intuitive and effective, even to Bubblers with zero experience with software development.


Exciting Times Ahead


This isn't the end! Bubble.io has a roadmap in place to make version control even more robust:

  • Branch Changelog: Dive into historical changes made to branches.

  • Savepoint Preview: Get a sneak peek of what a savepoint will look like before implementing.

  • Branch Permissions: Assign varied access levels for team members, ensuring the right eyes see the right content.

  • Merge Requests: Enhance the security of your Main branch by necessitating merge approvals from teammates.

These updates are going to make collaborating on Bubble apps better than ever before. Branch permissions and Merge Requests will be very handy for agencies and small teams employing Bubble developers for small parts of the app.


Wrapping Up


Bubble's revamped version control system can enable even non-technical Bubblers to be effective software developers. As we march forward in the realm of no-code development, it’s tools and enhancements like these that will shape the future, and Bubble is right at the helm of it.

40 views0 comments

Comments


bottom of page