Introduction to Git Connectivity

Git Connectivity brings version control workflows directly into Flowable Design. Instead of relying solely on Design's internal model versioning, teams can connect their app packages to external Git repositories hosted on GitHub, GitLab, or Bitbucket. This enables familiar Git-based collaboration patterns such as branching, committing, pulling, creating pull requests, and resolving conflicts, all without leaving the Design environment.

Why Git Connectivity?

Flowable Design already versions models internally, but Git Connectivity adds capabilities that go beyond what internal versioning provides:

• Team collaboration - Multiple modelers can work on the same app package using branches and pull requests, with full visibility into who changed what and when.
• Audit trail - Every change is captured in Git commit history with author information, commit messages, and timestamps.
• CI/CD integration - Git-connected apps can trigger automated pipelines on commit or merge, enabling continuous deployment of models to Work environments.
• Backup and portability - Models are stored in a standard Git repository alongside (or separate from) application code, providing an additional layer of backup and portability.
• Code review workflows - Pull requests allow teams to review model changes before merging them, applying the same quality gates used for application code.

Feature Overview

Git Connectivity provides the following capabilities:

• Git provider management - Configure connections to GitHub, GitLab, or Bitbucket with various authentication methods.
• Clone from Git - Clone an existing Git repository into a Design workspace as a new app package.
• Connect existing apps - Link an already-existing Design app to a remote Git repository.
• Commit and push - Select specific models or commit all changes with a descriptive message.
• Pull - Fetch and apply remote changes, with automatic conflict detection.
• Branching - Switch branches, create new branches, and push branches to the remote.
• Pull requests - Create pull requests with visual diff previews directly from Design.
• Commit history - Browse app-level and model-level commit history with visual diffs.
• Compare and diff - Visual diffs for BPMN diagrams, CMMN cases, forms, decision tables, and other model types.
• Stash - Temporarily save uncommitted changes and restore them later.
• Conflict resolution - Resolve merge conflicts using a guided resolution UI.
• Monorepo support - Connect apps to a subdirectory within a larger repository.
• Test model support - Test sets are tracked in Git alongside regular models.

Supported Git Providers

Provider	Authentication Methods	PR/MR Support	Repository Browsing
GitHub	GitHub App, Personal Access Token (PAT), SSH Key	Yes	Yes
GitLab	Personal Access Token	Yes (Merge Requests)	Yes
Bitbucket	Access Token / App Password	Yes	Yes

Prerequisites

Before using Git Connectivity, ensure the following:

1. Git Connectivity is enabled - The property flowable.design.git.enabled must be set to true in your Design application configuration.
2. Permissions are assigned - Users need the appropriate permissions:
   • DESIGN_GIT_PROVIDER_MANAGEMENT - Required to create and manage Git provider configurations.
   • DESIGN_GIT_MANAGE - Required to connect apps to repositories, switch branches, and manage Git configuration.
   • DESIGN_GIT_PUSH - Required to commit and push changes to the remote repository.
3. A Git hosting provider - Access to a supported Git hosting platform with appropriate credentials.

What's Next

• Getting Started - A step-by-step guide to setting up your first Git-connected app.
• Git Providers - Detailed information about configuring each provider type.
• Git Panel - Complete reference for the Git panel UI.