git:20260504.d9ce952 to git:20260624.531616f

- description: Master advanced Git workflows including rebasing, cherry-picking, bisect, worktrees, and reflog to maintain clean history and recover from any situation. Use when managing complex Git histories, collaborating on feature branches, or troubleshooting repository issues.

- ## Core Concepts

-

- ### 1. Interactive Rebase

-

- Interactive rebase is the Swiss Army knife of Git history editing.

-

- **Common Operations:**

-

- - `pick`: Keep commit as-is

- - `reword`: Change commit message

- - `edit`: Amend commit content

- - `squash`: Combine with previous commit

- - `fixup`: Like squash but discard message

- - `drop`: Remove commit entirely

-

- **Basic Usage:**

-

- ```bash

- # Rebase last 5 commits

- git rebase -i HEAD~5

-

- # Rebase all commits on current branch

- git rebase -i $(git merge-base HEAD main)

-

- # Rebase onto specific commit

- git rebase -i abc123

- ```

-

- ### 2. Cherry-Picking

-

- Apply specific commits from one branch to another without merging entire branches.

-

- ```bash

- # Cherry-pick single commit

- git cherry-pick abc123

-

- # Cherry-pick range of commits (exclusive start)

- git cherry-pick abc123..def456

-

- # Cherry-pick without committing (stage changes only)

- git cherry-pick -n abc123

-

- # Cherry-pick and edit commit message

- git cherry-pick -e abc123

- ```

-

- ### 3. Git Bisect

-

- Binary search through commit history to find the commit that introduced a bug.

-

- ```bash

- # Start bisect

- git bisect start

-

- # Mark current commit as bad

- git bisect bad

-

- # Mark known good commit

- git bisect good v1.0.0

-

- # Git will checkout middle commit - test it

- # Then mark as good or bad

- git bisect good # or: git bisect bad

-

- # Continue until bug found

- # When done

- git bisect reset

- ```

-

- **Automated Bisect:**

-

- ```bash

- # Use script to test automatically

- git bisect start HEAD v1.0.0

- git bisect run ./test.sh

-

- # test.sh should exit 0 for good, 1-127 (except 125) for bad

- ```

-

- ### 4. Worktrees

-

- Work on multiple branches simultaneously without stashing or switching.

-

- ```bash

- # List existing worktrees

- git worktree list

-

- # Add new worktree for feature branch

- git worktree add ../project-feature feature/new-feature

-

- # Add worktree and create new branch

- git worktree add -b bugfix/urgent ../project-hotfix main

-

- # Remove worktree

- git worktree remove ../project-feature

-

- # Prune stale worktrees

- git worktree prune

- ```

-

- ### 5. Reflog

-

- Your safety net - tracks all ref movements, even deleted commits.

-

- ```bash

- # View reflog

- git reflog

-

- # View reflog for specific branch

- git reflog show feature/branch

-

- # Restore deleted commit

- git reflog

- # Find commit hash

- git checkout abc123

- git branch recovered-branch

-

- # Restore deleted branch

- git reflog

- git branch deleted-branch abc123

- ```

-

- ## Practical Workflows

-

- ### Workflow 1: Clean Up Feature Branch Before PR

-

- ```bash

- # Start with feature branch

- git checkout feature/user-auth

-

- # Interactive rebase to clean history

- git rebase -i main

-

- # Example rebase operations:

- # - Squash "fix typo" commits

- # - Reword commit messages for clarity

- # - Reorder commits logically

- # - Drop unnecessary commits

-

- # Force push cleaned branch (safe if no one else is using it)

- git push --force-with-lease origin feature/user-auth

- ```

-

- ### Workflow 2: Apply Hotfix to Multiple Releases

-

- ```bash

- # Create fix on main

- git checkout main

- git commit -m "fix: critical security patch"

-

- # Apply to release branches

- git checkout release/2.0

- git cherry-pick abc123

-

- git checkout release/1.9

- git cherry-pick abc123

-

- # Handle conflicts if they arise

- git cherry-pick --continue

- # or

- git cherry-pick --abort

- ```

-

- ### Workflow 3: Find Bug Introduction

-

- ```bash

- # Start bisect

- git bisect start

- git bisect bad HEAD

- git bisect good v2.1.0

-

- # Git checks out middle commit - run tests

- npm test

-

- # If tests fail

- git bisect bad

-

- # If tests pass

- git bisect good

-

- # Git will automatically checkout next commit to test

- # Repeat until bug found

-

- # Automated version

- git bisect start HEAD v2.1.0

- git bisect run npm test

- ```

-

- ### Workflow 4: Multi-Branch Development

-

- ```bash

- # Main project directory

- cd ~/projects/myapp

-

- # Create worktree for urgent bugfix

- git worktree add ../myapp-hotfix hotfix/critical-bug

-

- # Work on hotfix in separate directory

- cd ../myapp-hotfix

- # Make changes, commit

- git commit -m "fix: resolve critical bug"

- git push origin hotfix/critical-bug

-

- # Return to main work without interruption

- cd ~/projects/myapp

- git fetch origin

- git cherry-pick hotfix/critical-bug

-

- # Clean up when done

- git worktree remove ../myapp-hotfix

- ```

-

- ### Workflow 5: Recover from Mistakes

-

- ```bash

- # Accidentally reset to wrong commit

- git reset --hard HEAD~5 # Oh no!

-

- # Use reflog to find lost commits

- git reflog

- # Output shows:

- # abc123 HEAD@{0}: reset: moving to HEAD~5

- # def456 HEAD@{1}: commit: my important changes

-

- # Recover lost commits

- git reset --hard def456

-

- # Or create branch from lost commit

- git branch recovery def456

- ```

-

- ## Advanced Techniques

-

- ### Rebase vs Merge Strategy

-

- **When to Rebase:**

-

- - Cleaning up local commits before pushing

- - Keeping feature branch up-to-date with main

- - Creating linear history for easier review

-

- **When to Merge:**

-

- - Integrating completed features into main

- - Preserving exact history of collaboration

- - Public branches used by others

-

- ```bash

- # Update feature branch with main changes (rebase)

- git checkout feature/my-feature

- git fetch origin

- git rebase origin/main

-

- # Handle conflicts

- git status

- # Fix conflicts in files

- git add .

- git rebase --continue

-

- # Or merge instead

- git merge origin/main

- ```

-

- ### Autosquash Workflow

-

- Automatically squash fixup commits during rebase.

-

- ```bash

- # Make initial commit

- git commit -m "feat: add user authentication"

-

- # Later, fix something in that commit

- # Stage changes

- git commit --fixup HEAD # or specify commit hash

-

- # Make more changes

- git commit --fixup abc123

-

- # Rebase with autosquash

- git rebase -i --autosquash main

-

- # Git automatically marks fixup commits

- ```

-

- ### Split Commit

-

- Break one commit into multiple logical commits.

-

- ```bash

- # Start interactive rebase

- git rebase -i HEAD~3

-

- # Mark commit to split with 'edit'

- # Git will stop at that commit

-

- # Reset commit but keep changes

- git reset HEAD^

-

- # Stage and commit in logical chunks

- git add file1.py

- git commit -m "feat: add validation"

-

- git add file2.py

- git commit -m "feat: add error handling"

-

- # Continue rebase

- git rebase --continue

- ```

-

- ### Partial Cherry-Pick

-

- Cherry-pick only specific files from a commit.

-

- ```bash

- # Show files in commit

- git show --name-only abc123

-

- # Checkout specific files from commit

- git checkout abc123 -- path/to/file1.py path/to/file2.py

-

- # Stage and commit

- git commit -m "cherry-pick: apply specific changes from abc123"

- ```

-

- ## Best Practices

-

- 1. **Always Use --force-with-lease**: Safer than --force, prevents overwriting others' work

- 2. **Rebase Only Local Commits**: Don't rebase commits that have been pushed and shared

- 3. **Descriptive Commit Messages**: Future you will thank present you

- 4. **Atomic Commits**: Each commit should be a single logical change

- 5. **Test Before Force Push**: Ensure history rewrite didn't break anything

- 6. **Keep Reflog Aware**: Remember reflog is your safety net for 90 days

- 7. **Branch Before Risky Operations**: Create backup branch before complex rebases

-

- ```bash

- # Safe force push

- git push --force-with-lease origin feature/branch

-

- # Create backup before risky operation

- git branch backup-branch

- git rebase -i main

- # If something goes wrong

- git reset --hard backup-branch

- ```

-

- ## Common Pitfalls

-

- - **Rebasing Public Branches**: Causes history conflicts for collaborators

- - **Force Pushing Without Lease**: Can overwrite teammate's work

- - **Losing Work in Rebase**: Resolve conflicts carefully, test after rebase

- - **Forgetting Worktree Cleanup**: Orphaned worktrees consume disk space

- - **Not Backing Up Before Experiment**: Always create safety branch

- - **Bisect on Dirty Working Directory**: Commit or stash before bisecting

-

- ## Recovery Commands

-

- ```bash

- # Abort operations in progress

- git rebase --abort

- git merge --abort

- git cherry-pick --abort

- git bisect reset

- # Restore file to version from specific commit

- git restore --source=abc123 path/to/file

- # Undo last commit but keep changes

- git reset --soft HEAD^

- # Undo last commit and discard changes

- git reset --hard HEAD^

- # Recover deleted branch (within 90 days)

- git reflog

- git branch recovered-branch abc123

- ```