What is bitbucket?

Bitbucket is an online service where developers store, share, and manage their code. Think of it as a digital locker that keeps all the files for a software project safe, lets multiple people work on them together, and tracks every change that’s made.

Let's break it down

  • Repository: A folder that holds all the code files for a project.
  • Git or Mercurial: The version‑control systems Bitbucket supports. They record every change so you can go back in time if needed.
  • Branch: A separate line of development where you can try new ideas without affecting the main code.
  • Pull request: A way to ask teammates to review and merge your changes into the main project.
  • Web interface: The website where you can view code, discuss changes, and manage permissions.

Why does it matter?

  • Collaboration: Multiple developers can work on the same project without overwriting each other’s work.
  • History: Every change is saved, so you can see who did what and revert mistakes.
  • Backup: Your code lives in the cloud, protecting it from local hardware failures.
  • Automation: Bitbucket can trigger builds, tests, and deployments automatically when code changes.

Where is it used?

  • Small startups and large enterprises use Bitbucket to host internal or public code repositories.
  • Teams that already use Atlassian tools (Jira, Confluence, Trello) often choose Bitbucket because it integrates tightly with them.
  • Open‑source projects may host their code on Bitbucket, though GitHub is more common for public projects.

Good things about it

  • Free private repositories for small teams.
  • Strong integration with other Atlassian products, making project tracking seamless.
  • Built‑in CI/CD (Bitbucket Pipelines) lets you run tests and deployments without extra services.
  • Fine‑grained permission controls keep code secure.

Not-so-good things

  • The user interface can feel cluttered for beginners compared to simpler services.
  • Mercurial support is being phased out, leaving only Git for most users.
  • Some advanced features (like large file storage) require paid plans.
  • Community support and tutorials are smaller than those for GitHub, so finding help may be harder.