Git Commands Cheat Sheet: Every Command You Actually Need

Git has hundreds of commands and options, but 90% of your daily work uses maybe 20. This cheat sheet covers the commands you'll actually reach for — organized by workflow, with real examples and the gotchas nobody warns you about.

Setup & Configuration

# Set your identity (required before first commit)
git config --global user.name "Your Name"
git config --global user.email "[email protected]"

# Set default branch name
git config --global init.defaultBranch main

# Set VS Code as default editor
git config --global core.editor "code --wait"

# Enable auto-coloring
git config --global color.ui auto

# See all your settings
git config --list --show-origin

Creating & Cloning Repos

# Initialize a new repo in current directory
git init

# Clone a remote repo
git clone https://github.com/user/repo.git

# Clone into a specific folder
git clone https://github.com/user/repo.git my-folder

# Clone only the most recent commit (faster for huge repos)
git clone --depth 1 https://github.com/user/repo.git

Daily Workflow

# Check what's changed
git status              # Shows modified/staged/untracked files
git diff                # Shows unstaged changes (line by line)
git diff --staged       # Shows staged changes (what will be committed)

# Stage files
git add file.js         # Stage specific file
git add .               # Stage everything in current directory
git add -p              # Stage interactively (hunk by hunk)

# Commit
git commit -m "Add login feature"
git commit -am "Fix typo"   # Stage tracked files + commit in one step

# View history
git log --oneline           # Compact log (one line per commit)
git log --graph --oneline   # Visual branch graph
git log -5                  # Last 5 commits
git log --author="Rahul"    # Commits by specific author
git log -- file.js          # History of a specific file

Branching

# List branches
git branch              # Local branches
git branch -r           # Remote branches
git branch -a           # All branches

# Create & switch
git branch feature/login        # Create branch
git checkout feature/login      # Switch to it
git checkout -b feature/login   # Create + switch (shortcut)
git switch feature/login        # Modern alternative to checkout
git switch -c feature/login     # Create + switch (modern)

# Rename current branch
git branch -m new-name

# Delete branch
git branch -d feature/login     # Safe delete (only if merged)
git branch -D feature/login     # Force delete (even if unmerged)

Merging

# Merge feature branch into main
git checkout main
git merge feature/login

# Merge with a merge commit (even if fast-forward is possible)
git merge --no-ff feature/login

# Cancel a merge during conflicts
git merge --abort

Resolving merge conflicts

# 1. Git marks conflicts in files:
<<<<<<< HEAD
your changes
=======
their changes
>>>>>>> feature/login

# 2. Edit the file, keep what you want, remove markers
# 3. Stage the resolved file
git add resolved-file.js

# 4. Complete the merge
git commit

Rebasing

# Rebase current branch onto main (linear history)
git rebase main

# Interactive rebase — squash, reword, reorder last 3 commits
git rebase -i HEAD~3

# Cancel a rebase
git rebase --abort

# Continue after fixing conflicts
git rebase --continue

Stashing

# Save uncommitted changes temporarily
git stash

# Save with a descriptive message
git stash save "WIP: login form validation"

# Include untracked files
git stash -u

# List all stashes
git stash list

# Apply most recent stash (keep it in stash list)
git stash apply

# Apply and remove from stash list
git stash pop

# Apply a specific stash
git stash apply stash@{2}

# Drop a specific stash
git stash drop stash@{0}

# Clear all stashes
git stash clear

Undoing Things

# Unstage a file (keep changes in working directory)
git restore --staged file.js

# Discard changes in working directory
git restore file.js

# Amend the last commit message
git commit --amend -m "New message"

# Add forgotten files to last commit
git add forgot-this.js
git commit --amend --no-edit

# Undo last commit but keep changes staged
git reset --soft HEAD~1

# Undo last commit and unstage changes
git reset HEAD~1           # Default: --mixed

# Undo last commit and DISCARD all changes (DANGEROUS)
git reset --hard HEAD~1

# Create a new commit that undoes a specific commit (safe for shared history)
git revert abc1234

Working with Remotes

# View remotes
git remote -v

# Add a remote
git remote add origin https://github.com/user/repo.git

# Fetch updates (doesn't merge)
git fetch origin

# Pull (fetch + merge)
git pull origin main

# Pull with rebase (cleaner history)
git pull --rebase origin main

# Push
git push origin main
git push -u origin feature/login   # First push + set upstream

# Delete remote branch
git push origin --delete feature/login

Cherry-Picking

# Apply a specific commit to current branch
git cherry-pick abc1234

# Cherry-pick without committing (stage changes only)
git cherry-pick --no-commit abc1234

# Cherry-pick a range of commits
git cherry-pick abc1234..def5678

Inspecting & Debugging

# Show details of a specific commit
git show abc1234

# Who changed each line? (blame)
git blame file.js

# Find which commit introduced a bug (binary search)
git bisect start
git bisect bad                # Current commit is broken
git bisect good abc1234       # This commit was working
# Git checks out middle commit — test it, then:
git bisect good   # or   git bisect bad
# Repeat until Git finds the first bad commit
git bisect reset              # Return to original state

# Search commit messages
git log --grep="login"

# Search code changes
git log -S "functionName"     # Find commits that added/removed this string

Tags

# Create a tag
git tag v1.0.0
git tag -a v1.0.0 -m "Release 1.0.0"   # Annotated tag (recommended)

# List tags
git tag

# Push tags to remote
git push origin v1.0.0        # Single tag
git push origin --tags         # All tags

# Delete a tag
git tag -d v1.0.0              # Local
git push origin --delete v1.0.0  # Remote

Quick Reference Table

TASK                    COMMAND
─────────────────────── ──────────────────────────────
See what changed        git status / git diff
Stage changes           git add . / git add -p
Commit                  git commit -m "message"
New branch              git switch -c branch-name
Switch branch           git switch branch-name
Merge                   git merge branch-name
Pull latest             git pull --rebase origin main
Push changes            git push origin branch-name
Undo last commit        git reset --soft HEAD~1
Stash work-in-progress  git stash -u
View log                git log --oneline --graph
Find who changed a line git blame file.js