# How to create a branch

A branch is an independent line of development.

New commits are recorded in the history for the current branch, which results
in taking the source from someone’s repository (the place where the history of
your work is stored) at certain point in time, and apply your own changes to it
in the history of the project.

To add changes to your GitLab project, you should create a branch. You can do
it in your [terminal](basic-git-commands.md) or by
[using the web interface](../user/project/repository/web_editor.md#create-a-new-branch).
