From b311088aa78c78153072d04122782d4108755647 Mon Sep 17 00:00:00 2001
From: kalvinparker <106995826+kalvinparker@users.noreply.github.com>
Date: Thu, 20 Nov 2025 21:17:04 +0000
Subject: [PATCH] chore: add CONTRIBUTING.md  Gitflow branching strategy

---
 CONTRIBUTING.md | 16 ++++++++++++++++
 1 file changed, 16 insertions(+)
 create mode 100644 CONTRIBUTING.md

diff --git a/CONTRIBUTING.md b/CONTRIBUTING.md
new file mode 100644
index 00000000..7cbca86c
--- /dev/null
+++ b/CONTRIBUTING.md
@@ -0,0 +1,16 @@
+## Secure Development Governance — Branching Strategy
+
+The following defines our mandated Gitflow branching strategy for secure development governance. This file documents expectations for feature development, hotfixes, and releases.
+
+```markdown
+## Branching Strategy: Gitflow Workflow
+
+We use the Gitflow model to manage our development lifecycle. All feature development must be done against the 'develop' branch.
+
+**Feature Branches:** Branch from `develop`. Merge back to `develop` via Pull Request.
+**Hotfixes:** Branch from `main`. Merge to `main`, then merge immediately to `develop`.
+
+No direct pushes to 'main' or 'develop' are allowed.
+```
+
+Please follow these rules when contributing. If you need an exception (emergency hotfix with org approval), open an issue describing the reason and obtain an explicit approval before bypassing the rules.