Skip to main content
AI/MLwshobson

git-advanced-workflows

Master advanced Git workflows including rebasing, cherry-picking, bisect, worktrees, and reflog to maintain clean history and recover from any situation. Use when managing complex Git histories, collaborating on feature branches, or troubleshooting repository issues.

Stars
36,167
Source
wshobson/agents
Updated
2026-05-29
Slug
wshobson--agents--git-advanced-workflows
View on GitHubRaw SKILL.md

// install — copy + paste into any project

mkdir -p .claude/skills && curl -fsSL https://raw.githubusercontent.com/wshobson/agents/HEAD/plugins/developer-essentials/skills/git-advanced-workflows/SKILL.md -o .claude/skills/git-advanced-workflows.md

Drops the SKILL.md into .claude/skills/git-advanced-workflows.md. Works with Claude Code, Cursor, and any agent that loads SKILL.md files from .claude/skills/.

Git Advanced Workflows

Master advanced Git techniques to maintain clean history, collaborate effectively, and recover from any situation with confidence.

When to Use This Skill

  • Cleaning up commit history before merging
  • Applying specific commits across branches
  • Finding commits that introduced bugs
  • Working on multiple features simultaneously
  • Recovering from Git mistakes or lost commits
  • Managing complex branch workflows
  • Preparing clean PRs for review
  • Synchronizing diverged branches

Core Concepts

1. Interactive Rebase

Interactive rebase is the Swiss Army knife of Git history editing.

Common Operations:

  • pick: Keep commit as-is
  • reword: Change commit message
  • edit: Amend commit content
  • squash: Combine with previous commit
  • fixup: Like squash but discard message
  • drop: Remove commit entirely

Basic Usage:

# Rebase last 5 commits
git rebase -i HEAD~5

# Rebase all commits on current branch
git rebase -i $(git merge-base HEAD main)

# Rebase onto specific commit
git rebase -i abc123

2. Cherry-Picking

Apply specific commits from one branch to another without merging entire branches.

# Cherry-pick single commit
git cherry-pick abc123

# Cherry-pick range of commits (exclusive start)
git cherry-pick abc123..def456

# Cherry-pick without committing (stage changes only)
git cherry-pick -n abc123

# Cherry-pick and edit commit message
git cherry-pick -e abc123

3. Git Bisect

Binary search through commit history to find the commit that introduced a bug.

# Start bisect
git bisect start

# Mark current commit as bad
git bisect bad

# Mark known good commit
git bisect good v1.0.0

# Git will checkout middle commit - test it
# Then mark as good or bad
git bisect good  # or: git bisect bad

# Continue until bug found
# When done
git bisect reset

Automated Bisect:

# Use script to test automatically
git bisect start HEAD v1.0.0
git bisect run ./test.sh

# test.sh should exit 0 for good, 1-127 (except 125) for bad

4. Worktrees

Work on multiple branches simultaneously without stashing or switching.

# List existing worktrees
git worktree list

# Add new worktree for feature branch
git worktree add ../project-feature feature/new-feature

# Add worktree and create new branch
git worktree add -b bugfix/urgent ../project-hotfix main

# Remove worktree
git worktree remove ../project-feature

# Prune stale worktrees
git worktree prune

5. Reflog

Your safety net - tracks all ref movements, even deleted commits.

# View reflog
git reflog

# View reflog for specific branch
git reflog show feature/branch

# Restore deleted commit
git reflog
# Find commit hash
git checkout abc123
git branch recovered-branch

# Restore deleted branch
git reflog
git branch deleted-branch abc123

Detailed patterns and worked examples

Detailed pattern documentation lives in references/details.md. Read that file when the navigation tier above is insufficient.

Best Practices

  1. Always Use --force-with-lease: Safer than --force, prevents overwriting others' work
  2. Rebase Only Local Commits: Don't rebase commits that have been pushed and shared
  3. Descriptive Commit Messages: Future you will thank present you
  4. Atomic Commits: Each commit should be a single logical change
  5. Test Before Force Push: Ensure history rewrite didn't break anything
  6. Keep Reflog Aware: Remember reflog is your safety net for 90 days
  7. Branch Before Risky Operations: Create backup branch before complex rebases
# Safe force push
git push --force-with-lease origin feature/branch

# Create backup before risky operation
git branch backup-branch
git rebase -i main
# If something goes wrong
git reset --hard backup-branch

Common Pitfalls

  • Rebasing Public Branches: Causes history conflicts for collaborators
  • Force Pushing Without Lease: Can overwrite teammate's work
  • Losing Work in Rebase: Resolve conflicts carefully, test after rebase
  • Forgetting Worktree Cleanup: Orphaned worktrees consume disk space
  • Not Backing Up Before Experiment: Always create safety branch
  • Bisect on Dirty Working Directory: Commit or stash before bisecting

Recovery Commands

# Abort operations in progress
git rebase --abort
git merge --abort
git cherry-pick --abort
git bisect reset

# Restore file to version from specific commit
git restore --source=abc123 path/to/file

# Undo last commit but keep changes
git reset --soft HEAD^

# Undo last commit and discard changes
git reset --hard HEAD^

# Recover deleted branch (within 90 days)
git reflog
git branch recovered-branch abc123