Learn Git

Version control records every change to a set of files so you can compare, undo and share work safely.

Install Git, set your name and email, and pick sane defaults with git config.

Start tracking a project with git init, or copy an existing repository with git clone.

Git moves changes through three places: the working tree you edit, the staging index, and the committed history.

Use git add to stage changes and git commit to record them with a clear message.

Read git status and git diff to know exactly what changed before you commit.

Browse, filter and search commit history with git log, git show and git blame.

Keep build output, dependencies, secrets and editor junk out of the repository using .gitignore patterns.

A remote is a named URL of another copy of the repository; origin/main is your local record of its branch.

Send your commits with git push and bring in others' commits with git pull.

git fetch downloads new commits without touching your branches; git pull fetches and then merges or rebases.

Push a feature branch, open a pull request, get review and CI, then merge using your team's strategy.

Mark release points with annotated tags, push them, and use git describe to name builds.

A branch is a movable pointer to a commit; create, switch and delete them freely with git switch and git branch.

Combine branches with git merge, and know when Git fast-forwards and when it creates a merge commit.

When both sides change the same lines, edit the conflict markers, git add the result and conclude the merge.

git rebase replays your commits on top of another branch, giving a linear history; never rebase shared commits.

Discard edits, unstage files and move branch pointers back with git restore and git reset.

git revert creates a new commit that undoes an earlier one, without rewriting shared history.

Save uncommitted changes aside with git stash, switch context, and reapply them later.

Reorder, squash, reword, split or drop commits with git rebase -i before sharing them.

Apply the changes of specific commits onto your current branch with git cherry-pick.

The reflog records every position HEAD and your branches have had, so you can undo resets, bad rebases and deleted branches.

Binary-search history with git bisect to find the exact commit that introduced a bug, manually or with a script.

Check out several branches at once in separate folders that share one repository with git worktree.

Embed another repository at a pinned commit with git submodule, and keep it updated correctly.

Run scripts automatically at points like pre-commit, commit-msg and pre-push to enforce checks locally.

Compare trunk-based development, GitHub flow and Git flow, and choose one that fits how you release.

Git is a content-addressed store of four object types; commits point to trees, trees to blobs and subtrees.

How Git stores refs (loose, packed, reftable) and objects (loose zlib files, delta-compressed packfiles), and what gc does.

The ort strategy, merge bases and criss-cross merges, strategy vs strategy options, rerere and merge-tree.

Remove secrets or huge files from all of history with git filter-repo, and coordinate the force-push safely.

Make huge repos fast with partial and shallow clones, sparse checkout, commit-graph, fsmonitor and git maintenance.