This AZ-400 practice question tests your understanding of design and implement a source control strategy. Read the scenario carefully and evaluate each option against the stated constraints before committing to an answer. After answering, compare your reasoning against the explanation and wrong-answer breakdown below. Once you have made your selection, read the full explanation to reinforce the concept and understand why each distractor is designed to mislead on exam day.
You are designing a branching strategy for a microservices application with independent deployment cadences. The team wants to support continuous deployment to production from the main branch while allowing feature work to be isolated and tested. Which branching strategy best meets these requirements?
Clue words in this question
Noticing these words before you look at the options changes how you read each choice.
Clue: "best"
Why it matters: Signals that multiple options may be partially correct. Choose the option that most directly solves the exact problem described, not the one that sounds most complete.
One branch per environment (dev, test, prod)
Why wrong: Does not isolate feature work.
GitHub Flow with feature branches merging to main
Why wrong: Less strict on branch lifetime.
Trunk-based development with short-lived feature branches
Supports CI/CD and isolation.
Git Flow with develop, release, and hotfix branches
Why wrong: Adds overhead and delays deployment.
Answer choices
Answer the question above first, then reveal the full breakdown to understand why each option is right or wrong.
Correct answer & explanation
Trunk-based development with short-lived feature branches
Trunk-based development with short-lived feature branches (C) is correct because it enables continuous deployment from the main branch while isolating feature work in branches that are merged back to main within hours or a day. This approach minimizes merge conflicts and supports independent deployment cadences for microservices, as each service can be deployed from main independently without waiting for release branches.
Key principle: Answer the scenario, not the keyword: identify the specific constraint before choosing the most familiar-sounding option.
Answer analysis
For each option: why learners choose it and why it is or isn't the right answer here.
One branch per environment (dev, test, prod)
Why it's wrong here
Does not isolate feature work.
GitHub Flow with feature branches merging to main
Why it's wrong here
Less strict on branch lifetime.
Trunk-based development with short-lived feature branches
Why this is correct
Supports CI/CD and isolation.
Clue confirmation
The clue word "best" in the question point toward this answer.
Related concept
Read the scenario before looking for a memorised answer.
Git Flow with develop, release, and hotfix branches
Why it's wrong here
Adds overhead and delays deployment.
Common exam traps
The trap here is that candidates confuse GitHub Flow with trunk-based development, but GitHub Flow lacks the strict short-lived branch discipline and feature toggle support required for true continuous deployment from main in a microservices context.
Detailed technical explanation
Trunk-based development relies on feature toggles or branch by abstraction to keep main always releasable, with short-lived branches (typically <1 day) that are merged via squash or rebase to maintain a linear history. In microservices, each service can have its own trunk-based workflow, enabling independent CI/CD pipelines that deploy from main without cross-service coordination. This strategy avoids the anti-pattern of long-lived feature branches that accumulate technical debt and integration risk.
Key takeaway
Answer the scenario, not the keyword: identify the specific constraint before choosing the most familiar-sounding option.
Real-world example
A cloud solutions architect for a retail company is evaluating services for a new workload. The correct answer here reflects best practice for the specific scenario described — not a general cloud recommendation. Answer the scenario, not the keyword: identify the specific constraint before choosing the most familiar-sounding option. Cloud exam questions reward reading the constraint carefully: the same technology can be right or wrong depending on the use case.
What to study next
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FAQ
Design and implement a source control strategy — This question tests Design and implement a source control strategy — Read the scenario before looking for a memorised answer..
The correct answer is: Trunk-based development with short-lived feature branches — Trunk-based development with short-lived feature branches (C) is correct because it enables continuous deployment from the main branch while isolating feature work in branches that are merged back to main within hours or a day. This approach minimizes merge conflicts and supports independent deployment cadences for microservices, as each service can be deployed from main independently without waiting for release branches.
Identify which exam domain this question belongs to, review the core concept, then practise similar questions from the same domain.
Yes — watch for: "best". Signals that multiple options may be partially correct. Choose the option that most directly solves the exact problem described, not the one that sounds most complete.
Read the scenario before looking for a memorised answer.
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Last reviewed: Jun 25, 2026
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