Living collection · GIT-001 to GIT-026

The commands holding up Git's cathedral, one per page.

Upstairs, the nave: commit, push, merge. Down here, the bones of rescue, archaeology, plumbing, workshop and surgery — each with its card, its label, and the answer to the question that matters: how to call it.

Descend into the crypt Why this way Where it came from

Drawers

The five drawers these bones are kept in.

The whole ossuary

GIT-001 git reflog HEAD's logbook: the commit you think you lost is still down here. Rescue common
GIT-002 git fsck --lost-found Sweeps the basement for objects no reference claims. Rescue forgotten
GIT-003 git stash Shelves your half-done work and hands the bench back clean. Rescue common
GIT-004 git checkout -p Discards the damage piece by piece, not the whole file. Rescue uncommon
GIT-005 git bisect Binary search for the guilty commit — history interrogated by halves. Archaeology common
GIT-006 git blame -w -C Ignores reindenting and relocation; points at who really wrote it. Archaeology uncommon
GIT-007 git log -S The pickaxe: finds the commit where an expression was born or died. Archaeology uncommon
GIT-008 git log -G The fine sieve: a regex over the diff, where the pickaxe can't reach. Archaeology forgotten
GIT-009 git shortlog -sn The dig's census: who dug, and how many times. Archaeology uncommon
GIT-010 git range-diff Compares two versions of the same commit series — before and after the rebase. Archaeology forgotten
GIT-011 git cat-file -p Opens any object in the vault and shows what's inside. Plumbing uncommon
GIT-012 git rev-parse Translates any name — HEAD~3, @{u}, main — into the hash git understands. Plumbing uncommon
GIT-013 git hash-object Computes a file's identity — and, if asked, deposits it in the vault. Plumbing forgotten
GIT-014 git ls-files The list of what the index actually sees, with no opinion from the working tree. Plumbing uncommon
GIT-015 git update-ref Moves a reference by force — the lever branch and tag pull under the hood. Plumbing forgotten
GIT-016 git cherry Tells which of your commits haven't landed on the other side — by content, not hash. Plumbing forgotten
GIT-017 git worktree Two branches of the same repository, each in its own folder. Workshop uncommon
GIT-018 git rerere Resolves the conflict you already resolved — and never asks again. Workshop uncommon
GIT-019 git sparse-checkout Brings to the bench only the corner of the repository that matters. Workshop uncommon
GIT-020 git maintenance The hired caretaker: gc, prefetch and friends on an agreed schedule. Workshop forgotten
GIT-021 git notes Annotations hung on published commits, rewriting nothing. Workshop forgotten
GIT-022 git commit --fixup Tags the patch with its target's name; autosquash slots it in later. Surgery uncommon
GIT-023 git cherry-pick -x Transplants the commit and leaves a plaque saying where it came from. Surgery uncommon
GIT-024 git revert -m Undoes a whole merge by choosing which parent still counts. Surgery uncommon
GIT-025 git rebase --onto Cuts out a series of commits and grafts it onto another base. Surgery uncommon
GIT-026 git filter-branch It rewrote entire histories — and today its own manual says to call someone else. Surgery forgotten