Git topic

Getting out of trouble

Learn how to undo mistakes and recover work you thought was lost.

Explore

Look it up and watch it run

From the Animated Git Cheat Sheet

24 commands on this topic, each drawn by git-sim on a small sample repository.

Delete untracked files git-sim drawing of git clean -fgit-sim drawing of git clean -f git clean -f Find the commit that broke something git-sim drawing of git bisect start <bad> <good>git-sim drawing of git bisect start <bad> <good> git bisect start <bad> <good> Force-delete an unmerged branch git-sim drawing of git branch -D <name>git-sim drawing of git branch -D <name> git branch -D <name> Abort a conflicted merge git-sim drawing of git merge --abortgit-sim drawing of git merge --abort git merge --abort Abort a rebase git-sim drawing of git rebase --abortgit-sim drawing of git rebase --abort git rebase --abort Force-push over the remote git-sim drawing of git push --forcegit-sim drawing of git push --force git push --force Apply and remove the latest stash git-sim drawing of git stash popgit-sim drawing of git stash pop git stash pop Delete a stash git-sim drawing of git stash dropgit-sim drawing of git stash drop git stash drop

Open the cheat sheet Print a cheat sheet of all 24

The commands, played on a real repository

Pick a command to watch it happen. Each one shows its risk rating; the ones with a full page link to the before and after, whether it is safe, and how to undo it.

git-sim
Initial CommitDevlands

Pick a command to watch it happen on a small sample repository.

Every command plays on the same repository, so they are easy to compare.

  • Safe reads or only adds; nothing is lost
  • Caution moves or rewrites things; recoverable from the reflog
  • Destructive can lose work for good

Watch them in the git-sim viewer

Each demo plays step by step, with the before and after side by side.

git restore <file>git restore --staged <file>git reset --hard <commit>git revert <commit>git refloggit stashgit clean -fd

Every command in one place: the Visual Git command reference.

Learn

Learn how it works

Workflow demos

A few commands in a row, the way you'd use them on a real project.

Undo a hard reset with the reflog Throw away two commits with reset --hard, then get them back from the reflog. 2 steps Stash, fix something else, come back Put unfinished work aside, fix a bug on its own branch, merge it, and pick the work back up. 6 steps

Related articles

Read more about it: the articles, guides and cheat sheets on this topic.

Every Git article, by topic: Git Articles.

Develop

Try it in your own repos

git-sim

See what a command will do to your repo before you run it. It reads the repository and draws the result without changing anything.

git-sim refloggit-sim reset --hard <commit>git-sim branch <name> <commit>

It can also pre-flight a risky command as you type it, and follow your repo live while you or an AI agent work in it.

git-dummy

Make a throwaway repo shaped for this topic, then practice on it without risking real work.

git-dummy --scenario detached-head --name practicegit-dummy --scenario merge-conflict --name practice

Then cd practice and run any of the git-sim commands here.

Want to see your repo a whole new way? Devlands turns it into a 3D world you can walk through.