Git

Git Operations

Status and Information

git status            # working tree status
git status -s         # short format
git branch -vv        # branches with tracking info

Viewing Changes

# Unstaged / staged / between branches
git diff
git diff --cached
git diff main..feature

# Changes since common ancestor (useful for PRs)
git diff main...feature

# Diff specific file
git diff -- PATH

# Word-level diff
git diff --word-diff

# Stat summary
git diff --stat

# Show a specific commit
git show COMMIT

# Show file at specific commit
git show COMMIT:PATH

Commit History

# Recent commits (compact)
git log --oneline -20

# With diffs
git log -p -5

# Graph view
git log --oneline --graph --all

# With file stats
git log --stat

# Filter by author / date / message / file
git log --author="NAME"
git log --since="2025-01-01" --until="2025-06-01"
git log --grep="fix"
git log -- PATH

# Commits that added/removed a string (pickaxe)
git log -S "function_name"

# Custom format
git log --pretty=format:"%h %ad %s (%an)" --date=short

# Who changed each line
git blame FILE
git blame -L 10,20 FILE

Staging

# Stage specific files
git add FILE1 FILE2

# Stage all tracked file changes
git add -u

# Stage everything (tracked + untracked)
git add -A

# Stage hunks interactively
git add -p

# Unstage file (keep changes)
git reset HEAD FILE

# Discard unstaged changes
git restore FILE

# Restore file from specific commit
git restore --source=COMMIT FILE

Committing

# Commit with message
git commit -m "message"

# Multi-line message
git commit -m "subject" -m "body"

# Stage tracked files and commit
git commit -a -m "message"

# Amend last commit
git commit --amend

# Amend without changing message
git commit --amend --no-edit

# Empty commit (trigger CI)
git commit --allow-empty -m "trigger build"

Undoing Commits

# Revert a commit (creates new inverse commit)
git revert COMMIT

# Revert without auto-commit
git revert --no-commit COMMIT

# Revert a merge commit (keep first parent)
git revert -m 1 MERGE_COMMIT

# Reset to commit (keep changes staged)
git reset --soft COMMIT

# Reset to commit (keep changes unstaged)
git reset --mixed COMMIT

# Reset to commit (discard all changes)
git reset --hard COMMIT

Branch Management

# List local / all / remote branches
git branch
git branch -a
git branch -r

# Create branch
git branch BRANCH

# Create and switch
git switch -c BRANCH

# Switch branch
git switch BRANCH

# Rename current branch
git branch -m NEW_NAME

# Delete merged / force delete unmerged
git branch -d BRANCH
git branch -D BRANCH

# Delete remote branch
git push origin --delete BRANCH

# List merged / unmerged branches
git branch --merged
git branch --no-merged

Merging

# Merge branch into current
git merge BRANCH

# Always create merge commit
git merge --no-ff BRANCH

# Squash merge (no merge commit, changes staged)
git merge --squash BRANCH

# Abort / continue
git merge --abort
git add . && git merge --continue

Rebasing

# Rebase current branch onto target
git rebase TARGET

# Rebase onto specific base
git rebase --onto NEW_BASE OLD_BASE BRANCH

# Interactive rebase (last N commits)
git rebase -i HEAD~N

# Abort / continue / skip
git rebase --abort
git rebase --continue
git rebase --skip

# Autosquash fixup!/squash! commits
git rebase -i --autosquash TARGET

Interactive rebase commands: pick, reword, edit, squash, fixup, drop.

Remote Operations

# List remotes
git remote -v

# Add / remove / rename remote
git remote add NAME URL
git remote remove NAME
git remote rename OLD NEW

# Change remote URL
git remote set-url origin NEW_URL

# Fetch (does not merge)
git fetch origin
git fetch --all
git fetch --prune          # prune deleted remote branches

# Pull (fetch + merge)
git pull
git pull --rebase          # rebase instead of merge

# Push
git push origin BRANCH
git push -u origin BRANCH  # set upstream
git push --tags             # push all tags

# Safer force push (rejects if remote has unknown commits)
git push --force-with-lease origin BRANCH

Stash

# Stash working changes
git stash
git stash push -m "description"

# Stash specific files
git stash push -m "msg" -- FILE1 FILE2

# Include untracked files
git stash -u

# List / apply / pop
git stash list
git stash apply stash@{0}
git stash pop

# Show stash diff
git stash show -p stash@{0}

# Drop / clear
git stash drop stash@{1}
git stash clear

# Create branch from stash
git stash branch BRANCH stash@{0}

Tags

# List tags
git tag
git tag -l "v1.*"

# Create annotated tag (recommended)
git tag -a TAG -m "message"

# Tag specific commit
git tag -a TAG COMMIT -m "message"

# Push tag / all tags
git push origin TAG
git push --tags

# Delete local / remote tag
git tag -d TAG
git push origin --delete TAG

Cherry-Pick

# Apply a commit to current branch
git cherry-pick COMMIT

# Without committing
git cherry-pick --no-commit COMMIT

# Range of commits (exclusive start)
git cherry-pick START..END

# Abort / continue
git cherry-pick --abort
git cherry-pick --continue

Bisect (Finding Regressions)

# Manual bisect
git bisect start
git bisect bad              # current commit is bad
git bisect good COMMIT      # known good commit
# Git checks out middle commit — test and mark good/bad, repeat
git bisect reset            # finish

# Automated bisect with test script
git bisect start HEAD GOOD_COMMIT
git bisect run ./test-script.sh

Test script exits: 0 = good, 1-124/126-127 = bad, 125 = skip.

Reflog (Recovery)

# Show HEAD movement history
git reflog

# Recover lost commit
git reflog
git switch -c recovery-branch LOST_HASH

# Undo accidental reset
git reset --hard HEAD@{N}

Entries expire after 90 days (30 days for unreachable commits).

Worktree

# Add worktree for existing branch
git worktree add ../path BRANCH

# Add worktree with new branch
git worktree add -b NEW_BRANCH ../path BASE

# List / remove / prune
git worktree list
git worktree remove ../path
git worktree prune

Submodules

# Add submodule
git submodule add URL PATH

# Initialize after clone
git submodule init && git submodule update

# Clone with submodules
git clone --recurse-submodules URL

# Update to latest remote
git submodule update --remote

# Remove submodule
git submodule deinit PATH && git rm PATH

Conflict Resolution

When a merge, rebase, or cherry-pick encounters conflicts:

git status                    # see conflicted files
# Edit files, remove conflict markers (>>>>>>)
git add FILE                  # mark resolved
git merge --continue          # or rebase --continue / cherry-pick --continue
git merge --abort             # or rebase --abort to cancel

Patch Creation

# Create patches from commits
git format-patch -N                          # last N commits
git format-patch main..feature --stdout > changes.patch

# Apply patch
git am < changes.patch
git apply changes.patch

# Check if patch applies cleanly
git apply --check changes.patch

Cleanup

# Remove untracked files (dry run first)
git clean -n
git clean -fd                # files + directories
git clean -fdx               # including ignored files

# Garbage collect
git gc

# Verify integrity
git fsck

Common Workflows

Feature branch

git switch main && git pull
git switch -c feat/my-feature
# ... make changes ...
git add -A && git commit -m "add feature"
git push -u origin feat/my-feature
# After PR merge:
git switch main && git pull && git branch -d feat/my-feature

Sync feature branch with main

git fetch origin main
git rebase origin/main       # or: git merge origin/main

Squash commits before PR

git rebase -i HEAD~N
# Mark commits as squash/fixup, keep first as pick

Source & license

This open-source skill is cataloged on AgentStack and links to its original source — we do not rehost the code.

• Author: bug-ops
• Source: bug-ops/zeph
• License: MIT
• Homepage: https://bug-ops.github.io/zeph/

Install and usage instructions live in the source repository linked above.