Git — Workflows, Branching & Recovery Cheat Sheet

Setup & Config#

git config --global user.name "Alice Smith"
git config --global user.email "alice@example.com"
git config --global core.editor "code --wait"      # VS Code
git config --global init.defaultBranch main
git config --global pull.rebase false               # default: merge on pull
git config --list                                   # show all config
git config --global alias.st status                # create alias
git config --global alias.lg "log --oneline --graph --all"

Init & Clone#

git init                          # Init new repo
git init --bare my-repo.git       # Bare repo (server-side)
git clone https://github.com/user/repo.git
git clone git@github.com:user/repo.git
git clone https://github.com/user/repo.git my-dir    # clone to specific dir
git clone --depth 1 https://github.com/user/repo     # shallow clone (no history)
git clone --branch develop https://github.com/user/repo  # specific branch

Status, Staging & Committing#

git status
git status -s                     # short / compact

# Staging
git add file.txt                  # Stage specific file
git add src/                      # Stage directory
git add -p                        # Interactive patch staging (hunk by hunk)
git add -A                        # Stage all (new + modified + deleted)
git add .                         # Stage all in current dir
git rm --cached file.txt          # Unstage (keep in working dir)
git restore --staged file.txt     # Unstage (modern)

# Committing
git commit -m "feat: add login page"
git commit -am "fix: typo in readme"  # stage all modified + commit
git commit --amend --no-edit          # Add staged changes to last commit
git commit --amend -m "new message"   # Rewrite last commit message

# Conventional commits (industry standard)
# feat: new feature
# fix: bug fix
# docs: documentation
# chore: build / tooling
# refactor: code restructure
# test: tests

Viewing History#

git log
git log --oneline
git log --oneline --graph --all
git log --oneline -n 10           # last 10 commits
git log --since="2 weeks ago"
git log --author="Alice"
git log -- path/to/file           # history of a file
git log --stat                    # files changed per commit
git log -S "search_string"        # commits that changed a string (pickaxe)
git log --diff-filter=D -- '*.py' # commits that deleted Python files
git show abc1234                  # show a specific commit
git show HEAD~2                   # 2 commits ago

Diff#

git diff                          # Unstaged changes
git diff --staged                 # Staged changes (vs last commit)
git diff HEAD                     # All changes vs last commit
git diff main..feature            # Between branches
git diff abc1234 def5678          # Between commits
git diff --stat                   # Summary: files + insertions/deletions
git difftool                      # Open visual diff tool

Branching#

git branch                        # List local branches
git branch -a                     # Local + remote branches
git branch -v                     # With last commit
git branch feature/login          # Create branch
git switch feature/login          # Switch to branch (modern)
git switch -c feature/login       # Create + switch
git checkout -b feature/login     # Create + switch (legacy)
git branch -d feature/login       # Delete (safe, merged only)
git branch -D feature/login       # Force delete
git branch -m old-name new-name   # Rename

# Tracking remote branches
git branch --set-upstream-to=origin/main main
git branch -u origin/feature remote-feature

Remote#

git remote -v                          # List remotes
git remote add origin git@github.com:user/repo.git
git remote add upstream https://github.com/original/repo.git
git remote rename origin upstream
git remote remove origin
git remote set-url origin git@github.com:user/new-repo.git

# Fetch / pull / push
git fetch origin                       # Download but don't merge
git fetch --all                        # Fetch all remotes
git pull                               # Fetch + merge
git pull --rebase                      # Fetch + rebase (cleaner history)
git push origin main
git push -u origin feature/login      # Push + set upstream
git push --force-with-lease           # Safer force push (checks for others' changes)
git push origin --delete feature/old  # Delete remote branch

Merge#

git merge feature/login               # Merge into current branch
git merge --no-ff feature/login       # Always create merge commit
git merge --squash feature/login      # Squash all commits into one staged change
git merge --abort                     # Abort merge in progress
git mergetool                         # Open merge tool for conflicts

Rebase#

git rebase main                       # Rebase current branch onto main
git rebase --onto main base feature   # Transplant feature onto main, starting after base
git rebase -i HEAD~3                  # Interactive rebase: last 3 commits
# In interactive rebase:
# pick  = keep commit as-is
# reword= keep but edit message
# edit  = stop to amend
# squash= combine with previous
# fixup = combine, discard message
# drop  = delete commit

git rebase --continue                 # After resolving conflicts
git rebase --skip                     # Skip current conflicting commit
git rebase --abort                    # Abort rebase

Stash#

git stash                             # Stash all uncommitted changes
git stash push -m "work in progress"  # With message
git stash push -u                     # Include untracked files
git stash list                        # Show stash stack
git stash pop                         # Apply latest + remove from stash
git stash apply stash@{2}             # Apply specific stash, keep in stack
git stash drop stash@{0}             # Delete specific stash
git stash clear                       # Delete all stashes
git stash branch feature/from-stash  # Create branch from stash

Cherry-pick#

git cherry-pick abc1234               # Apply a specific commit to current branch
git cherry-pick abc1234..def5678      # Apply range of commits (excluding first)
git cherry-pick abc1234^..def5678     # Apply range (including first)
git cherry-pick --no-commit abc1234   # Apply changes but don't commit
git cherry-pick --abort

Undo & Recovery#

# Undo last commit (keep changes staged)
git reset --soft HEAD~1

# Undo last commit (keep changes unstaged)
git reset HEAD~1

# Undo last commit (discard changes entirely)
git reset --hard HEAD~1               # WARNING: data loss!

# Revert a commit (safe, creates new commit)
git revert abc1234
git revert HEAD                       # Revert last commit

# Restore file to last commit state
git restore file.txt                  # Discard working dir changes
git restore --staged file.txt         # Unstage

# Find lost commits (reflog is your safety net!)
git reflog
git reset --hard HEAD@{2}             # Go back to state 2 entries ago
git switch -c recovered HEAD@{3}      # Recover into a new branch

Tags#

git tag                                          # List tags
git tag v1.0.0                                   # Lightweight tag
git tag -a v1.0.0 -m "Release v1.0.0"           # Annotated tag
git tag -a v1.0.0 abc1234                        # Tag specific commit
git push origin v1.0.0                           # Push a tag
git push origin --tags                           # Push all tags
git tag -d v1.0.0                               # Delete local tag
git push origin --delete v1.0.0                 # Delete remote tag

Useful Patterns#

# See what changed between main and current branch
git diff main...HEAD --stat

# Find the commit that introduced a bug (binary search)
git bisect start
git bisect bad                  # current commit is bad
git bisect good v1.0.0         # last known good state
# git bisect will checkout commits; mark as good/bad until found
git bisect reset

# Clean untracked files (dry run first!)
git clean -n                   # preview what would be deleted
git clean -fd                  # delete untracked files and dirs

# Grep across all files in repo
git grep "TODO" -- "*.py"

# Show who changed each line
git blame -L 10,20 file.txt

# Compact one-line log (great alias)
git log --oneline --graph --decorate --all

.gitignore Patterns#

# Files
*.log
*.tmp
.DS_Store
Thumbs.db

# Directories
node_modules/
.venv/
__pycache__/
dist/
build/
.terraform/

# Environment / secrets
.env
.env.*
*.pem
*.key
credentials.json