Git commands that every developer should know#
1. Initial Git Configuration#
git config --global user.name "Your Name" - set global username
git config --global user.email "[email protected]" - set global email
git config --list - show all configuration values
git help <command> - view manual of a command
2. Creation and Cloning#
git init - initialize a new git repository
git clone <url> - clone a remote repository to your local machine
git clone --depth 1 <url>
3. Status and Inspection#
git status - show the status of the working tree
git log - show the complete commit history
git log --oneline - show the history in a compact format
git log --graph --decorate --all - show the history with a branch graph
git show <commit> - show the details of a commit
git diff - show unstaged differences
git diff --staged - show already staged differences
4. Add and Commit#
git add <file> - adds a file to the staging area
git add . - adds all changes to the staging area
git add -p - interactive block-by-block add
git commit -m "Message" - creates a commit with a message
git commit --amend - modifies the last commit
git reset <file> - removes a file from the staging area
git reset --soft HEAD~1 - undoes the last commit while keeping the changes
git reset --hard HEAD~1 - undoes the last commit and discards the changes
5. Branching#
git branch - lists local branches
git branch <name> - creates a new branch
git branch -d <name> - deletes an already merged branch
git branch -D <name> - force deletes a branch
git branch -m <new_name> - renames the current branch
6. Checkout and Switch#
git checkout <branch> - switch to a branch (classic command)
git checkout -b <new_branch> - create and switch to a new branch
git switch <branch> - switch to a branch (modern command)
git switch -c <new_branch> - create and switch to a new branch (modern)
7. Merge and Rebase#
git merge <branch> - merges a branch into the current branch
git merge --no-ff <branch> - merge with explicit commit
git rebase <branch> - linearly realigns commits
git rebase -i <base> - interactive rebase
git rebase --abort - aborts an ongoing rebase
git rebase --continue - continues a rebase after resolving conflicts
8. Remote#
git remote -v - shows configured remote repositories
git remote add origin <url> - adds a remote repository
git remote remove origin - removes a remote
git remote rename origin upstream - renames a remote
9. Push and Pull#
git push - sends commits to the default remote
git push -u origin <branch> - sets upstream and sends the branch
git push --force-with-lease - safer force push
git pull - downloads and integrates changes (fetch + merge)
git pull --rebase - downloads and integrates changes with rebase
10. Stash#
git stash - temporarily saves uncommitted changes
git stash push -m "msg" - saves a stash with a message
git stash list - lists available stashes
git stash apply [stash@{n}] - applies a stash without removing it
git stash pop [stash@{n}] - applies and removes a stash
git stash drop [stash@{n}] - drops a specific stash
git stash clear - clears all stashes
11. Tags#
git tag - lists tags
git tag <name> - creates a lightweight tag
git tag -a <name> -m "msg" - creates an annotated tag
git push --tags - sends all tags to the remote
git tag -d <name> - deletes a local tag
git push origin :refs/tags/<name> - deletes a remote tag
12. Cleanup and Maintenance#
git clean -n - preview of untracked files to be removed
git clean -fd - removes untracked files and directories
git prune - removes orphaned objects
git gc - runs garbage collection on the repository
13. Advanced Commands#
git reflog - shows the history of HEAD movements
git cherry-pick <commit> - applies a specific commit to another branch
git bisect start - starts binary search for a bug
git bisect good - marks a commit as good
git bisect bad - marks a commit as problematic
git blame <file> - shows author and commit for each line
git rev-parse HEAD - shows the hash of the current commit
git shortlog - summarizes contributions by author
git archive -o out.zip HEAD - exports a snapshot of the repository
14. Troubleshooting and Recovery#
git reflog - recovers recent hashes even after a reset or rebase
git reset --hard <hash> - reverts to a known state of the repository
git merge --abort - aborts an ongoing merge
git rebase --abort - aborts an ongoing rebase
git pull --rebase --autostash - realigns divergent branches keeping local changes
15. Workflow and Best Practices#
Conventional Commits (e.g. feat:, fix:, docs:) - use consistent and readable commit messages
feature/<name>, fix/<ticket>, hotfix/<ticket>, release/<version> - adopt a naming convention for branches
Branch protection on main/default - require pull requests, reviews, and green CI
16. Advanced Commands for DevOps and CI/CD#
git clone --depth 1 <url> - fast clone for pipelines
git fetch --depth=1 origin <branch> - shallow fetch of the branch
git fetch --prune --tags - updates tags and cleans obsolete remote references
git checkout --force <hash> - deterministic checkout for reproducible builds
git diff --name-only origin/main...HEAD - lists changed files for conditional jobs
last_tag=$(git describe --tags --abbrev=0) - gets the last tag
count_since=$(git rev-list --count ${last_tag}..HEAD) - counts commits since the tag
echo "${last_tag}+build.${count_since}" - generates a build version
git describe --tags --always --dirty - generates human-friendly version metadata
git submodule add <url> path - adds a submodule
git submodule update --init --recursive - initializes and updates submodules
git submodule sync --recursive - syncs submodule URLs
git sparse-checkout init --cone - enables sparse checkout
git sparse-checkout set path/only-needed - downloads only necessary paths
git worktree add ../build-wt <branch> - creates a separate working tree
git worktree remove ../build-wt - removes the separate working tree
git config --global commit.gpgsign true - enables automatic commit signing
git tag -s v1.2.3 -m "signed release" - creates a signed tag
GIT_TRACE=1 GIT_CURL_VERBOSE=1 git fetch - enables network trace and debug
git clean -fdx - full cleanup of untracked files (careful)
git merge --ff-only - prevents unexpected merge commits
git fetch origin "+refs/heads/release/*:refs/remotes/origin/release/*" - selective fetch with refspec
git checkout <tag|hash> - retrieves state from a tag or specific commit
git bisect run ./test.sh - automates bisect with a test script
git lfs install - initializes Git LFS
git lfs track "*.bin" - tracks large files with LFS
git add .gitattributes - adds LFS rules
git clone --mirror <url> - creates bare mirror of the repository
git remote add --mirror=push backup <url-backup> - configures push mirror to backup
git remote prune origin - removes remote references that no longer exist
git rev-parse HEAD > .git/ci-build-hash - saves commit hash for cache keys
git fetch origin main && git merge-base --is-ancestor origin/main HEAD || exit 1 - verifies updated branch in CI
git log --pretty=format:"* %h %s (%an)" <from>..<to> - generates changelog between two refs
git log --oneline -- <path/> - filters commits by folder
git verify-commit <hash> - validates signature of a commit
git verify-tag <tag> - validates signature of a tag
17. Git Hooks for Local Automation#
pre-commit - runs fast lint or tests before commit
commit-msg - validates the commit message format
pre-push - runs tests or quick build before push
#!/usr/bin/env bash - typical shebang for hook scripts
msg_file="$1" - reads the commit message file
msg=$(head -n1 "$msg_file") - extracts the first line of the message
if ! echo "$msg" | grep -Eq '^(feat|fix|docs|style|refactor|perf|test|chore)(\(.+\))?!?: .+'; then ... fi - validates Conventional Commits
Security Notes#
git push --force-with-lease - prefer it to git push --force on shared branches
git clean -fdx - always check first what will be deleted
branch protection - protect primary branches and require green CI
Useful References#
https://git-scm.com/docs - official Git documentation
https://git-scm.com/book - Pro Git book (free)
