Hotfix Policy

Purpose

A hotfix is an urgent production fix. It is used only for production issues that cannot wait for the normal deployment flow.

Hotfix Flow

1. Create a branch from production named hotfix/<name>
2. Make the smallest possible fix
3. Open a PR from hotfix/<name> to production
4. Merge the PR into production
5. A reconciliation PR from production to main will be opened automatically
6. Review the opened PR, once approved it will be automatically merged using a merge commit

Rules

1. Hotfixes must be minimal and focused only on the production issue
2. Do not include unrelated refactors, cleanup, or feature work
3. Do not create hotfix branches from main
4. Do not commit directly to production
5. A hotfix is not complete until the reconciliation PR to main is merged

Merge Strategy

hotfix/* to production

Squash merge is allowed and recommended.

production to main reconciliation

Auto merge enabled (review is required)

If Reconciliation Conflicts

If the reconciliation PR from production to main has conflicts, resolve them immediately and complete the PR.

If the hotfixed code no longer exists on main, keep the correct main version and still complete the reconciliation PR.

Summary

Hotfix from production
Merge to production
Merge production back to main