The commands that cover 95% of daily work. Bookmark it. Deep dives: Git flow, rebase vs merge and .gitignore.

Setup (once)

git config --global user.name "Your Name"
git config --global user.email "[email protected]"
git config --global init.defaultBranch main
git config --global pull.rebase true          # pull via rebase, no junk merge commits
git config --global core.excludesfile ~/.gitignore_global

Daily

Command What it does
git status -sb Short status + branch
git add -p Stage changes hunk by hunk
git commit -m "msg" Commit
git commit --amend --no-edit Append to the last commit
git pull origin main Pull changes
git push -u origin <branch> Push and track the branch
git fetch --all --prune Refresh refs, drop dead ones

Branches

git switch -c feature/login     # create and switch
git switch -                    # jump back to the previous branch
git branch -d feature/login     # delete a merged branch
git push origin --delete feature/login   # delete on the server
git branch --sort=-committerdate # branches by freshness

Undoing changes

Situation Command
Discard uncommitted edits in a file git restore <file>
Unstage a file (after add) git restore --staged <file>
Undo last commit, keep the changes git reset --soft HEAD~1
Undo commit and changes (irreversible!) git reset --hard HEAD~1
Revert a commit with a new commit (shared branches) git revert <sha>
Stop tracking a file but keep it on disk git rm --cached <file>

Rebase

git rebase main                  # replay your branch onto fresh main
git rebase -i HEAD~5             # interactive: squash / fixup / reword / drop
git rebase --abort               # changed your mind
git push --force-with-lease      # safe force push (never plain --force)

Rule: rebase your own branches only. Shared ones - merge. Details: rebase vs merge.

Stash

git stash push -m "wip: login form"
git stash list
git stash pop                    # apply and drop
git stash apply stash@{1}        # apply a specific one, keep it
git stash push -p                # stash selectively

git log --oneline --graph -15
git log -p <file>                # file history with diffs
git log -S "function"            # commits where a string appeared/vanished
git blame -L 10,20 <file>        # who touched lines 10-20
git diff main...feature          # what the branch adds
git show <sha>:<path>            # a file from any commit

Rescue - reflog

git reflog                       # every HEAD move for 90 days
git reset --hard HEAD@{2}        # go back to the pre-disaster state
git checkout -b rescue <sha>     # recover a "lost" commit into a branch

Aliases

git config --global alias.st "status -sb"
git config --global alias.lg "log --oneline --graph -15"
git config --global alias.amend "commit --amend --no-edit"
git config --global alias.undo "reset --soft HEAD~1"

.gitignore in 10 seconds

node_modules/
.env
.env.*.local
dist/
build/
*.log
.DS_Store
.idea/

Already committed something you shouldn't have? git rm -r --cached <path> + commit. Secrets - rotate them. Details: .gitignore.