git-advanced-workflows - Agent Skills

Git Advanced Workflows

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

Do not use this skill when

The task is unrelated to git advanced workflows

You need a different domain or tool outside this scope

Instructions

Clarify goals, constraints, and required inputs.

Apply relevant best practices and validate outcomes.

Provide actionable steps and verification.

If detailed examples are required, open resources/implementation-playbook.md.

Use this skill when

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

Practical Workflows

Workflow 1: Clean Up Feature Branch Before PR

# Start with feature branch
git checkout feature/user-auth
Interactive rebase to clean history

git rebase -i main
Example rebase operations:

- Squash "fix typo" commits

- Reword commit messages for clarity

- Reorder commits logically

- Drop unnecessary commits
Force push cleaned branch (safe if no one else is using it)

git push --force-with-lease origin feature/user-auth

Workflow 2: Apply Hotfix to Multiple Releases

# Create fix on main
git checkout main
git commit -m "fix: critical security patch"
Apply to release branches

git checkout release/2.0
git cherry-pick abc123
git checkout release/1.9
git cherry-pick abc123
Handle conflicts if they arise

git cherry-pick --continue
or

git cherry-pick --abort

Workflow 3: Find Bug Introduction

# Start bisect
git bisect start
git bisect bad HEAD
git bisect good v2.1.0
Git checks out middle commit - run tests

npm test
If tests fail

git bisect bad
If tests pass

git bisect good
Git will automatically checkout next commit to test

Repeat until bug found
Automated version

git bisect start HEAD v2.1.0
git bisect run npm test

Workflow 4: Multi-Branch Development

# Main project directory
cd ~/projects/myapp
Create worktree for urgent bugfix

git worktree add ../myapp-hotfix hotfix/critical-bug
Work on hotfix in separate directory

cd ../myapp-hotfix
Make changes, commit

git commit -m "fix: resolve critical bug"
git push origin hotfix/critical-bug
Return to main work without interruption

cd ~/projects/myapp
git fetch origin
git cherry-pick hotfix/critical-bug
Clean up when done

git worktree remove ../myapp-hotfix

Workflow 5: Recover from Mistakes

# Accidentally reset to wrong commit
git reset --hard HEAD~5  # Oh no!
Use reflog to find lost commits

git reflog
Output shows:

abc123 HEAD@{0}: reset: moving to HEAD~5

def456 HEAD@{1}: commit: my important changes
Recover lost commits

git reset --hard def456
Or create branch from lost commit

git branch recovery def456

Advanced Techniques

Rebase vs Merge Strategy

When to Rebase:

Cleaning up local commits before pushing

Keeping feature branch up-to-date with main

Creating linear history for easier review

When to Merge:

Integrating completed features into main

Preserving exact history of collaboration

Public branches used by others

# Update feature branch with main changes (rebase)
git checkout feature/my-feature
git fetch origin
git rebase origin/main
Handle conflicts

git status
Fix conflicts in files

git add .
git rebase --continue
Or merge instead

git merge origin/main

Autosquash Workflow

Automatically squash fixup commits during rebase.

# Make initial commit
git commit -m "feat: add user authentication"
Later, fix something in that commit

Stage changes

git commit --fixup HEAD  # or specify commit hash
Make more changes

git commit --fixup abc123
Rebase with autosquash

git rebase -i --autosquash main
Git automatically marks fixup commits

Split Commit

Break one commit into multiple logical commits.

# Start interactive rebase
git rebase -i HEAD~3
Mark commit to split with 'edit'

Git will stop at that commit
Reset commit but keep changes

git reset HEAD^
Stage and commit in logical chunks

git add file1.py
git commit -m "feat: add validation"
git add file2.py
git commit -m "feat: add error handling"
Continue rebase

git rebase --continue

Partial Cherry-Pick

Cherry-pick only specific files from a commit.

# Show files in commit
git show --name-only abc123
Checkout specific files from commit

git checkout abc123 -- path/to/file1.py path/to/file2.py
Stage and commit

git commit -m "cherry-pick: apply specific changes from abc123"

Best Practices

Always Use --force-with-lease: Safer than --force, prevents overwriting others' work

Rebase Only Local Commits: Don't rebase commits that have been pushed and shared

Descriptive Commit Messages: Future you will thank present you

Atomic Commits: Each commit should be a single logical change

Test Before Force Push: Ensure history rewrite didn't break anything

Keep Reflog Aware: Remember reflog is your safety net for 90 days

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

Resources

references/git-rebase-guide.md: Deep dive into interactive rebase

references/git-conflict-resolution.md: Advanced conflict resolution strategies

references/git-history-rewriting.md: Safely rewriting Git history

assets/git-workflow-checklist.md: Pre-PR cleanup checklist

assets/git-aliases.md: Useful Git aliases for advanced workflows

scripts/git-clean-branches.sh: Clean up merged and stale branches