Git/Cheat sheet

Contents

Check out the other cheat sheets!

A concise, battle-tested guide to everything you actually use in Git — from setup to wizard-level commands.
(For when you forget whether it’s git pull --rebase or git rebase --pull... which, by the way, doesn’t exist.)

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⚙️ Setup

Configuration (Linux etc.)

git config --global user.name "Your Name"
git config --global user.email "you@example.com"
git config --global core.editor "code --wait"  # or vim, nano, etc.
git config --global color.ui auto
git config --list  # verify configuration

Starting a Repository

git init                   # start a new repo
git clone <url>            # copy an existing repo

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📦 Basic Workflow

git status                 # check what’s going on
git add <file>             # stage a specific file
git add .                  # stage everything
git commit -m "message"    # commit staged changes
git log                    # view commit history
git diff                   # see unstaged changes
git diff --staged          # see staged changes

Undo oops moments:

git restore <file>         # undo unstaged changes
git restore --staged <file> # unstage a file
git reset --hard HEAD      # nuke all uncommitted changes

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🌳 Branching & Merging

git branch                 # list branches
git branch <name>          # create branch
git checkout <branch>      # switch branch
git switch <branch>        # modern version of checkout
git switch -c <branch>     # create + switch
git merge <branch>         # merge into current branch
git branch -d <branch>     # delete branch

Rebase instead of merge (cleaner history):

git rebase main

Abort if things get weird:

git merge --abort
git rebase --abort

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🌐 Working with Remotes

git remote -v              # list remotes
git remote add origin <url>
git fetch origin           # get changes, don’t merge
git pull                   # fetch + merge
git pull --rebase          # fetch + reapply local commits
git push origin main       # push commits
git push -u origin main    # push and set upstream

Rename or remove remotes:

git remote rename origin upstream
git remote remove upstream

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🧩 Staging & Commits

git add <file>             # stage file
git commit -m "message"    # commit
git commit --amend         # edit last commit (use carefully)

Partial commits:

git add -p                 # add selected chunks interactively

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🔍 Viewing History

git log                    # full commit log
git log --oneline          # compact view
git log --graph --decorate --all
git show <commit>          # details of one commit

Compare commits or branches:

git diff <commit1> <commit2>
git diff main feature-branch

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🧰 Stash — Temporary Storage

git stash                  # save uncommitted work
git stash list             # list stashes
git stash apply            # reapply latest stash
git stash pop              # reapply + delete stash
git stash drop             # delete stash
git stash clear            # delete all

Name your stash:

git stash push -m "WIP: half-broken feature"

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🪄 Reset, Revert & Undo

Soft, Mixed, Hard — choose your poison

git reset --soft HEAD~1    # undo commit, keep changes staged
git reset --mixed HEAD~1   # undo commit, keep changes unstaged
git reset --hard HEAD~1    # undo commit and all changes

Revert a commit (safe for shared branches):

git revert <commit-hash>

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🔖 Tags

git tag                    # list tags
git tag v1.0.0             # create tag
git tag -a v1.0.0 -m "Release 1.0.0"  # annotated tag
git push origin v1.0.0     # push tag to remote
git push origin --tags     # push all tags

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🧬 Cherry-Picking & Patching

Copy a commit to another branch:

git cherry-pick <commit-hash>

Export changes:

git diff > patch.diff
git apply patch.diff

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🚀 Collaboration Flow (Typical)

git checkout -b feature/awesome
# ... work ...
git add .
git commit -m "Add awesome feature"
git push -u origin feature/awesome
# → open pull request

After merge:

git checkout main
git pull
git branch -d feature/awesome

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⚖️ Clean Up & Maintenance

git fetch --prune          # remove deleted remote branches
git gc                     # clean up unnecessary files
git reflog                 # show all actions (even deleted commits)
git fsck                   # check repo health

Remove untracked files:

git clean -fd

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🧠 Useful One-Liners

git shortlog -sn           # list contributors
git blame <file>           # who wrote what (and when)
git grep "keyword"         # search codebase
git log --since="2 weeks ago" --author="Alice"
git diff --stat            # summary of file changes

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🔐 .gitignore Essentials

Typical .gitignore:

node_modules/
dist/
.env
*.log
.DS_Store
coverage/

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🧑‍🏫 Pro Tips

• Always pull --rebase before pushing (keeps history clean).
• Avoid committing large binaries (use Git LFS if you must).
• Commit early, commit often.
• Write meaningful messages — future you will thank you.
• Use git alias to save typing:

  git config --global alias.st status
  git config --global alias.co checkout
  git config --global alias.br branch
  git config --global alias.ci commit

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🐧 Bonus: Visual Helpers

• tig — terminal Git UI.
• gitk — classic visual history browser.
• VS Code Source Control — friendlier for beginners.
• GitKraken / Fork / Tower — GUI clients for power users.

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🧾 Git Reference Mental Map

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“Git is like a time machine — powerful, but don’t push the red button unless you know what it does.”