Git Cheat Sheet: Essential Quick Reference Guide

Today I compiled a Git Cheat Sheet for quick recall of all the commands I’ve been practicing. Instead of memorizing, I wanted a single document where I can find the most common workflows, along with short explanations and examples.

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1. Git Configuration

Before starting, always configure Git with your details:

git config --global user.name "Your Name"
git config --global user.email "your@email.com"
git config --list

This ensures commits are linked to your identity.

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2. Git Basics (Workflow)

Git follows a 3-step workflow: Working Directory → Staging Area → Local Repository

• Check status → git status

• Add file → git add file.txt

• Add all → git add .

• Commit → git commit -m "Message"

Note: Files cannot skip staging when moving to local repo.

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3. File Recovery

• Restore deleted (not staged) → git restore file.txt

• Restore staged → git restore --staged file.txt && git restore file.txt

• Restore after commit → git checkout HEAD~1 -- file.txt

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4. Git Stash

When you want to save uncommitted work without committing:

git stash
git stash list
git stash apply
git stash drop stash@{id}
git stash clear

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5. Remote Repositories

• Clone repo → git clone <repo-url>

• Add remote → git remote add origin <repo-url>

• Push changes → git push -u origin main

• Pull changes → git pull origin main

• Fetch changes → git fetch

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6. Branching

• List → git branch

• Create → git branch feature-1

• Switch → git checkout feature-1

• Create + Switch → git checkout -b feature-1

• Rename → git branch -m oldName newName

• Delete local → git branch -D feature-1

• Delete remote → git push origin --delete feature-1

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7. Merge & Rebase

Merging keeps full history; rebasing creates a linear history.

Merge Example:

git checkout main
git merge feature-1

Rebase Example:

git checkout feature-1
git rebase main

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8. Merge Conflicts

When conflicts occur:

1. Open file → resolve between <<<<<<< and >>>>>>>.

2. Stage → git add file.txt

3. Commit → git commit -m "Resolved conflict"

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9. .gitignore

Used to exclude files from version control. Example:

*.log
node_modules/
.env

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10. GitHub Workflow

Steps to push local code to a new GitHub repo:

git init
git add .
git commit -m "Initial commit"
git remote add origin <repo-url>
git push -u origin main

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11. Forking & Pull Requests

• Fork repo on GitHub.

• Clone forked repo locally.

• Push changes to fork.

• Raise a Pull Request (PR) to the original repository.

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12. Useful Commands

• Commit history → git log --oneline --graph --decorate

• Show last commit → git show HEAD

• Undo last commit (keep changes) → git reset --soft HEAD~1

• Undo last commit (discard changes) → git reset --hard HEAD~1

• Remove untracked files → git clean -f

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Closing Notes

This cheat sheet helps me quickly recall Git commands while working on projects. Git is powerful but can get overwhelming — keeping these short references handy makes it much easier to focus on actual coding and version control.