Git Advanced Operations

Expert guidance for advanced git operations, history analysis, recovery, and command reference.

Current Git Context

• Current git status: !git status
• Current branch: !git branch --show-current
• Recent commits: !git log --oneline -10
• Reflog (recent operations): !git reflog -10
• All branches: !git branch -a

Quick Navigation

Advanced Operations

• Interactive Rebase - Reorder, squash, edit commits
• Cherry-Pick - Apply specific commits
• Stash - Save uncommitted changes temporarily
• Reset - Undo commits (soft, mixed, hard)
• Clean - Remove untracked files
• Amend - Modify last commit

Analysis & Debugging

• Reflog - Recover lost commits
• Bisect - Find bug-introducing commits
• Blame - See who changed each line
• History Search - Search git history

Recovery

• Common Recovery Scenarios

References

• Command Reference - Quick command lookup
• Detailed Operations - Comprehensive guide

Interactive Rebase

Modify commits: reorder, edit, squash, drop, or reword.

Basic usage:

# Rebase last 3 commits
git rebase -i HEAD~3

# Rebase since branching from main
git rebase -i main

Interactive commands:

pick abc1234 Add user authentication
reword def5678 Fix typo in login        # Edit message
squash ghi9012 Add password validation  # Combine with previous
drop jkl3456 Debug logging              # Remove commit

# p/pick, r/reword, e/edit, s/squash, f/fixup, d/drop

Example - Squash last 3 commits:

git rebase -i HEAD~3
# Change last 2 "pick" to "squash", save, edit combined message

Safety:

• ⚠️ Never rebase commits pushed to shared branches
• Create backup branch before complex rebases
• Use git rebase --abort if things go wrong

For detailed examples, see advanced-operations.md.

Cherry-Pick

Apply specific commits from one branch to another.

Basic usage:

# Apply single commit
git cherry-pick <commit-hash>

# Apply multiple commits
git cherry-pick <commit1> <commit2>

# Apply range of commits
git cherry-pick <commit1>^..<commit2>

Handle conflicts:

git status                    # Identify conflicts
# Edit and resolve conflicts
git add <resolved-files>
git cherry-pick --continue    # Or: git cherry-pick --abort

Use cases: Apply bug fix across branches, port features, extract specific commits.

For detailed examples, see advanced-operations.md.

Reflog

Your safety net - tracks all ref updates (commits, resets, checkouts, etc.).

Basic usage:

# View reflog
git reflog

# View reflog for specific branch
git reflog show feature-branch

Recover lost commit:

git reflog                       # Find lost commit (e.g., HEAD@{2})
git cherry-pick HEAD@{2}         # Recover it
# Or: git branch recovered HEAD@{2}

Reflog is your recovery tool for undoing resets, recovering deleted branches, and finding lost commits. See Common Recovery Scenarios below.

Stash

Save uncommitted changes temporarily without committing.

Basic usage:

git stash                              # Stash all changes
git stash save "WIP: User auth"        # Stash with message
git stash list                         # List stashes
git stash pop                          # Apply and remove stash
git stash apply stash@{2}              # Apply specific stash

Advanced:

git stash -u                           # Include untracked files
git stash --keep-index                 # Stash only unstaged changes
git stash branch new-branch-name       # Create branch from stash
git stash drop stash@{1}               # Drop specific stash

Use cases: Switch branches with uncommitted work, try experimental changes, clean working directory temporarily.

For detailed examples, see advanced-operations.md.

Reset

Move branch pointer and optionally modify staging area and working directory.

Reset modes:

git reset --soft HEAD~1     # Move HEAD, keep changes staged
git reset HEAD~1            # Move HEAD, unstage changes, keep in working dir (default)
git reset --hard HEAD~1     # Move HEAD, discard all changes

Common use cases:

git reset --soft HEAD~1     # Undo last commit, keep changes staged
git reset                   # Unstage all files
git reset --hard HEAD       # Discard all local changes
git reset --hard <commit>   # Move branch to specific commit

Safety:

• ⚠️ --hard discards work permanently (unless you use reflog)
• Never reset commits pushed to shared branches
• Use reflog to recover from bad resets

For detailed examples, see advanced-operations.md.

Clean

Remove untracked files from working directory.

Basic usage:

git clean -n       # Dry run (see what would be deleted)
git clean -f       # Delete untracked files
git clean -fd      # Delete untracked files and directories
git clean -fdx     # Include ignored files

Safety:

• ⚠️ Deleted files cannot be recovered
• Always run -n (dry run) first
• Be careful with -x (deletes ignored files like dependencies)

Bisect

Binary search to find commit that introduced a bug.

Basic workflow:

git bisect start
git bisect bad                    # Mark current as bad
git bisect good <commit-hash>     # Mark known good commit
# Git checks out middle commit - test the code
git bisect good                   # Or: git bisect bad
# Repeat until bug found
git bisect reset                  # End bisect

Automated bisect:

git bisect start HEAD v1.0
git bisect run ./test_script.sh   # Script exits 0 if good, non-zero if bad

For detailed examples, see advanced-operations.md.

Amend

Modify the last commit.

Basic usage:

git commit --amend -m "New message"        # Modify message
git add forgotten-file.txt                 # Add more changes
git commit --amend --no-edit               # Amend without changing message

Safety:

• ⚠️ Never amend commits that have been pushed
• Creates new commit (changes hash)
• If already pushed, requires force push (dangerous on shared branches)

Blame

See who last modified each line of a file.

Basic usage:

git blame <file>                # Blame entire file
git blame -L 10,20 <file>       # Blame specific lines
git blame -e <file>             # Show email instead of name
git blame -w <file>             # Ignore whitespace changes

Use cases: Find who to ask about code, understand when/why code changed, track down bug introduction.

History Search

Find commits by various criteria.

Search commit messages:

git log --grep="bug fix"                              # Search messages
git log --grep="bug fix" -i                           # Case insensitive
git log --grep="bug" --grep="fix" --all-match        # Multiple patterns

Search code content:

git log -S "function_name"                            # Added/removed text
git log -G "regex_pattern"                            # Regex pattern
git log -p -S "function_name"                         # Show patches

Filter by author/date:

git log --author="John Doe"                           # By author
git log --since="2 weeks ago"                         # By date
git log --after="2024-01-01" --before="2024-02-01"   # Date range
git log --author="John" --since="1 month ago" --grep="fix"  # Combined

For detailed examples, see advanced-operations.md.

Common Recovery Scenarios

Use reflog to recover from mistakes:

Recover lost commit:

git reflog                       # Find lost commit
git cherry-pick HEAD@{5}         # Or: git branch recovered HEAD@{5}

Undo accidental reset:

git reflog                       # Find previous HEAD
git reset --hard HEAD@{1}        # Reset back

Restore deleted branch:

git reflog                       # Find last commit on deleted branch
git branch recovered-branch <commit-hash>

Step-by-step recovery:

1. Find the lost commit: git reflog
2. Verify it's the right one: git show HEAD@{5}
3. Recover it: git cherry-pick HEAD@{5} or git reset --hard HEAD@{5} or git branch recovered HEAD@{5}

For detailed recovery procedures, see advanced-operations.md.

Safety Best Practices

Before risky operations:

git branch backup-$(date +%Y%m%d)    # Create backup branch
git reflog                           # Verify reflog is working
git clean -n                         # Dry run for clean operations

Golden rules:

• ⚠️ Never force push to main/master
• ⚠️ Never rewrite public history (pushed commits)
• ✅ Always use --force-with-lease instead of --force
• ✅ Create backup branches before complex operations
• ✅ Test commands on non-critical branches first
• ✅ Communicate with team before shared branch operations

Command Reference

See references/common-commands.md for complete command reference including basic operations, branching, merging, remote operations, inspection, and all flags.

Detailed Documentation

See references/advanced-operations.md for in-depth examples, advanced scenarios, troubleshooting guides, and complete coverage of all operations.

Related Skills

• For commit best practices, see @git-commits
• For stacked PR workflows, see @git-stacked-prs

Quick Reference

Most used advanced commands:

git reflog                      # View history (recovery)
git stash                       # Save work temporarily
git rebase -i HEAD~3            # Interactive rebase
git cherry-pick <commit>        # Apply specific commit
git reset --soft HEAD~1         # Undo commit, keep changes
git bisect start                # Find bug-introducing commit
git clean -n                    # Dry run cleanup
git commit --amend              # Modify last commit
git log --grep="pattern"        # Search history
git blame <file>                # See who changed lines