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.
Your team uses GitHub Flow. A developer pushes a feature branch to origin and creates a pull request to main. After review and approval, the pull request is merged. Which branch should the developer delete after the merge to maintain a clean repository?
Delete the feature branch
Feature branches are temporary and should be deleted after merge.
Keep both branches indefinitely
Why wrong: Keeping stale branches clutters the repository.
Delete the main branch
Why wrong: Main branch is permanent and should not be deleted.
Delete the remote main branch and recreate it
Why wrong: Unnecessary and disruptive.
Answer choices
Answer the question above first, then reveal the full breakdown to understand why each option is right or wrong.
Correct answer & explanation
Delete the feature branch
In GitHub Flow, feature branches are temporary and should be deleted after their pull request is merged into main. Deleting the feature branch keeps the repository clean by removing stale branches that are no longer needed, reducing clutter and preventing confusion. This practice aligns with the principle of short-lived branches in trunk-based development workflows.
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.
Delete the feature branch
Why this is correct
Feature branches are temporary and should be deleted after merge.
Related concept
Read the scenario before looking for a memorised answer.
Keep both branches indefinitely
Why it's wrong here
Keeping stale branches clutters the repository.
Delete the main branch
Why it's wrong here
Main branch is permanent and should not be deleted.
Delete the remote main branch and recreate it
Why it's wrong here
Unnecessary and disruptive.
Common exam traps
The trap here is that candidates may think keeping feature branches is harmless or that deleting main is acceptable for cleanup, but GitHub Flow explicitly requires deleting feature branches after merge to maintain a clean, linear history and avoid repository clutter.
Detailed technical explanation
Under the hood, GitHub does not automatically delete the source branch after a pull request merge; the developer must manually delete it via the GitHub UI or with `git push origin --delete <branch-name>`. In a real-world scenario, failing to delete feature branches can lead to stale branches accumulating, which may cause confusion during automated cleanup scripts or when using branch protection rules that require up-to-date branches. The `git branch -d` command locally will refuse to delete a branch that hasn't been fully merged, but after a merge, it safely removes the reference.
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: Delete the feature branch — In GitHub Flow, feature branches are temporary and should be deleted after their pull request is merged into main. Deleting the feature branch keeps the repository clean by removing stale branches that are no longer needed, reducing clutter and preventing confusion. This practice aligns with the principle of short-lived branches in trunk-based development workflows.
Identify which exam domain this question belongs to, review the core concept, then practise similar questions from the same domain.
Read the scenario before looking for a memorised answer.
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Last reviewed: Jun 25, 2026
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