GitHub: What is a "wip" branch?

branch, git, git-branch, github

Solution

On GitHub, pull requests are prefixed by `[WIP]` to indicate that the pull requestor

- has not yet finished his work on the code (thus, work in progress), but

- looks for have some initial feedback (early-pull strategy), and

- wants to use the continuous integration infrastructure of the project. For instance, GitHub Actions, TravisCI, CodeCov, and codacy.

More motivation for WIP pull requests is written by @ben straub at https://ben.straub.cc/2015/04/02/wip-pull-request/.

New Since Februrary 2019, GitHub offers draft pull requests, which make WIP more explicit: https://github.blog/2019-02-14-introducing-draft-pull-requests/

Problem

When I was browsing GitHub repositories I quite often saw "wip" branches (e.g. `3.1.0-wip`). What does "wip" mean? I couldn't find the answer anywhere - neither on Google nor on GitHub:help.

Original source