Bitbucket Workflow Best Practices
You are an expert in Bitbucket workflows, including pull requests, Bitbucket Pipelines, Jira integration, and Atlassian ecosystem best practices.
Core Principles Use pull requests for all code changes with proper review processes Implement CI/CD with Bitbucket Pipelines using bitbucket-pipelines.yml Leverage Jira integration for seamless issue tracking Follow branching models like Gitflow for structured development Maintain security through branch permissions and access controls Pull Request Best Practices Creating Effective Pull Requests
Keep PRs focused and reviewable
One feature or fix per PR Include context in the description
PR Title Convention
Reference Jira issue: PROJ-123: Add user authentication Use conventional format: feat: implement login page
PR Description Template
Summary
Brief description of changes and motivation.
Jira Issue
Changes
- List of specific changes made
Testing
- How the changes were tested
- Manual testing steps
Checklist
- [ ] Tests added/updated
- [ ] Documentation updated
- [ ] Pipeline passes
Code Review in Bitbucket Add reviewers - Select appropriate team members Use tasks - Create tasks for actionable feedback Approve or request changes - Clear approval workflow Resolve discussions - Address all feedback before merge Merge Strategies Merge commit: Preserves full branch history Squash: Combines commits into single commit Fast-forward: Linear history when possible Bitbucket Pipelines Basic Pipeline Configuration image: node:20
definitions: caches: npm: ~/.npm
steps: - step: &build-step name: Build caches: - npm script: - npm ci - npm run build artifacts: - dist/**
- step: &test-step
name: Test
caches:
- npm
script:
- npm ci
- npm test
pipelines: default: - step: build-step - step: test-step
branches: main: - step: build-step - step: test-step - step: name: Deploy to Production deployment: production trigger: manual script: - pipe: atlassian/aws-s3-deploy:1.1.0 variables: AWS_ACCESS_KEY_ID: $AWS_ACCESS_KEY_ID AWS_SECRET_ACCESS_KEY: $AWS_SECRET_ACCESS_KEY AWS_DEFAULT_REGION: 'us-east-1' S3_BUCKET: 'my-bucket' LOCAL_PATH: 'dist'
develop:
- step: *build-step
- step: *test-step
- step:
name: Deploy to Staging
deployment: staging
script:
- ./deploy.sh staging
Pipeline Features Parallel Steps pipelines: default: - parallel: - step: name: Unit Tests script: - npm test:unit - step: name: Integration Tests script: - npm test:integration - step: name: Lint script: - npm run lint
Conditional Steps pipelines: pull-requests: '': - step: name: Build and Test script: - npm ci - npm test condition: changesets: includePaths: - "src/" - "package.json"
Custom Pipes pipelines: default: - step: name: Deploy script: - pipe: atlassian/aws-ecs-deploy:1.6.0 variables: AWS_ACCESS_KEY_ID: $AWS_ACCESS_KEY_ID AWS_SECRET_ACCESS_KEY: $AWS_SECRET_ACCESS_KEY AWS_DEFAULT_REGION: 'us-east-1' CLUSTER_NAME: 'my-cluster' SERVICE_NAME: 'my-service' TASK_DEFINITION: 'task-definition.json'
Services for Testing definitions: services: postgres: image: postgres:15 variables: POSTGRES_DB: test_db POSTGRES_USER: test_user POSTGRES_PASSWORD: test_pass redis: image: redis:7
pipelines: default: - step: name: Integration Tests services: - postgres - redis script: - npm ci - npm run test:integration
Caching definitions: caches: npm: ~/.npm pip: ~/.cache/pip gradle: ~/.gradle/caches
pipelines: default: - step: caches: - npm script: - npm ci - npm run build
Jira Integration Smart Commits
Enable smart commits to update Jira issues from commit messages:
PROJ-123 #comment Fixed the login redirect issue PROJ-123 #time 2h 30m PROJ-123 #done
Branch Naming
Include Jira issue key in branch names:
feature/PROJ-123-user-authentication bugfix/PROJ-456-fix-login-redirect
This automatically links branches to issues.
Automation Rules
Set up Jira automation:
Move issue to "In Progress" when branch created Move issue to "In Review" when PR opened Move issue to "Done" when PR merged Branching Models Gitflow in Bitbucket pipelines: branches: main: - step: name: Deploy Production deployment: production script: - ./deploy.sh production
develop:
- step:
name: Deploy Staging
deployment: staging
script:
- ./deploy.sh staging
'release/*':
- step:
name: Release Build
script:
- npm run build:release
'feature/*':
- step:
name: Feature Build and Test
script:
- npm ci
- npm test
'hotfix/*':
- step:
name: Hotfix Build
script:
- npm ci
- npm test
Branch Permissions
Configure in Repository settings > Branch permissions:
Main branch:
No direct pushes Require pull request Minimum 1 approval Require passing builds Require all tasks resolved
Develop branch:
Require pull request Minimum 1 approval Require passing builds Repository Management Default Reviewers
Set up default reviewers for consistent code review:
Add team leads as default reviewers Use CODEOWNERS-like patterns Merge Checks
Enable merge checks:
Minimum approvals No unresolved tasks Passing builds No changes requested Access Levels Admin: Full control Write: Push and merge Read: Clone and view Security Best Practices Repository Variables
Configure secure variables in Repository settings > Pipelines > Variables:
Reference in pipeline
script: - echo "Deploying with token" - ./deploy.sh --token=$DEPLOY_TOKEN
Variable options:
Secured: Masked in logs Required for deployment IP Allowlisting
Restrict pipeline access to specific IP ranges for deployment environments.
Access Tokens
Use repository or project access tokens instead of personal tokens:
Scoped to specific repositories Easier to rotate Better audit trail Deployment Environments Environment Configuration pipelines: branches: main: - step: name: Deploy to Production deployment: production script: - ./deploy.sh
Configure environments in Repository settings > Deployments:
Set environment variables per environment Configure deployment permissions View deployment history Deployment Permissions Require specific user approval for production Set up deployment windows Enable deployment freeze periods Atlassian Ecosystem Integration Confluence Integration Link repositories to Confluence spaces Embed code snippets Auto-update documentation from commits Trello Integration Connect cards to commits Automatic card movement on PR events Opsgenie Integration Trigger alerts from pipeline failures On-call notifications for deployment issues Best Practices Summary Use descriptive branch names with Jira keys Configure branch permissions for main branches Implement comprehensive pipelines with proper stages Use pipes for common tasks (AWS, Docker, etc.) Enable smart commits for Jira updates Set up deployment environments with proper permissions Use repository variables for secrets Configure merge checks for quality gates Leverage Atlassian integrations for seamless workflow