Speedrun-statechannels repository has an unusual configuration because the end product is intentionally broken: ie, it has specific gaps in implementation that are meant to be filled in by students doing the tutorial.
Making improvements to this implementation-with-holes is... not fun. So the intent here is to maintain side-by-side branches:
main: the student-facing default branch with implementation gapscompleted: a branch with the gaps filled in
Work to improve the end-result application should be done against the completed branch, merged into the completed branch, and then cherry-picked back to main.