Git Cheat Sheet

The Git commands you use every day, with what they do.

Git records snapshots of a project as commits. Changes move through three places: the working tree (your files), the staging area (what the next commit will contain, filled with git add) and the repository (the commits). Branches are movable names for commits, and remotes such as origin are other copies of the repository that you fetch from and push to.

The commands below cover everyday work. Newer Git versions split the old all-purpose checkout command into git switch (change branches) and git restore (discard or unstage changes), which are harder to misuse. Commands marked as destructive throw work away; when in doubt, git reflog lists recent positions of HEAD, so commits that seem lost can usually be recovered.

Filter commands

49 entries

Set up

Command	What it does	Note
git config --global user.name "Ada Lovelace"	Set the name on your commits
git config --global user.email ada@example.com	Set the email on your commits
git config --global init.defaultBranch main	Name the first branch of new repositories main
git config --list	Show your settings

Start a repository

Command	What it does	Note
git init	Turn the current folder into a repository
git clone <url>	Copy a remote repository	git clone git@github.com:org/repo.git
git clone --depth 1 <url>	Clone only the latest commit (shallow)

Stage and commit

Command	What it does	Note
git status	Show changed, staged and untracked files
git add <file>	Stage a file	git add src/app.ts
git add -p	Stage changes hunk by hunk
git add -A	Stage everything, including deletions
git commit -m "message"	Commit staged changes
git commit --amend	Change the last commit (message or content)	Only before you've pushed it
git rm <file>	Delete a file and stage the deletion
git mv <old> <new>	Rename a file and stage the rename

Branches

Command	What it does	Note
git branch	List local branches	-a includes remote branches
git switch -c <branch>	Create a branch and switch to it	Older: git checkout -b <branch>
git switch <branch>	Switch to a branch
git merge <branch>	Merge a branch into the current one
git rebase <branch>	Replay your commits on top of another branch	Don't rebase commits others already have
git branch -d <branch>	Delete a merged branch	-D forces deletion
git cherry-pick <commit>	Apply one commit onto the current branch

Remotes

Command	What it does	Note
git remote -v	List remotes and their URLs
git fetch	Download new commits without changing your files
git pull	Fetch and merge (or rebase) the upstream branch	git pull --rebase keeps history linear
git push	Upload commits to the upstream branch
git push -u origin <branch>	Push a new branch and set its upstream
git push --force-with-lease	Force-push, but only if nobody else pushed meanwhile	Safer than --force

Inspect history

Command	What it does	Note
git log --oneline --graph	Compact history with branches drawn
git log -p <file>	History of one file with its changes
git diff	Unstaged changes
git diff --staged	Staged changes
git diff main...<branch>	What a branch changed since it left main
git show <commit>	One commit and its changes
git blame <file>	Who last changed each line
git bisect start	Binary-search history for the commit that broke something

Undo

Command	What it does	Note
git restore <file>	Discard unstaged changes to a file	Cannot be undone
git restore --staged <file>	Unstage a file, keeping the changes
git revert <commit>	Make a new commit that undoes a commit	Safe on shared branches
git reset --soft HEAD~1	Undo the last commit, keep its changes staged
git reset --hard HEAD~1	Throw away the last commit and its changes	Destructive
git reflog	Every position HEAD has been at: find lost commits
git clean -n	Preview untracked files that git clean -f would delete

Stash and tags

Command	What it does	Note
git stash	Put uncommitted changes aside	-u includes untracked files
git stash pop	Reapply the latest stash and drop it
git stash list	List stashes
git tag v1.2.0	Tag the current commit
git tag -a v1.2.0 -m "Release"	Create an annotated tag
git push --tags	Push tags to the remote

Good to know

Rewriting history

commit --amend, rebase and reset change commits. That's fine for commits that only exist on your machine; for commits others have pulled, use git revert instead, or coordinate and push with --force-with-lease.