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Git Notes

Stuff I actually did and understand :)

Mental model

  • branch = full snapshot of repo, not a folder...
  • commit = photo of every file at one moment, has a hash
  • branch label = sticky note pointing at one commit
  • HEAD = "you are here"
  • switch branch → files swap to match that snapshot. nothing is lost.
  • nothing reaches GitHub until git push

Commands I used

inspecting

git status         # what changed, what's staged, which branch
git branch         # list branches, * = current
git log --oneline --graph --all --decorate   # tree view
git log -n 3       # last 3 commits

press q to exit pager

creating + switching branches

git switch -c writing-rules   # -c = create new branch
git switch main               # switch to existing
git switch writing-rules

saving work (2 steps)

git add Writing_Rules/Writing_Rules.md   # stage
git commit -m "feat: add more writing rules"   # commit

I forgot to stage once and got "nothing to commit, working tree clean" git status shows it. red = unstaged, green = staged.

unstaging

git restore --staged <file>   # undo a git add

undoing commits

git reset --soft HEAD~1    # undo last commit, keep changes staged
git reset --hard HEAD~1    # undo last commit + delete changes

HEAD~1 = one commit back

pushing

git push -u origin writing-rules   # first push: -u links local↔remote
git push                            # after that, just this

merging

git switch main             # go to destination
git merge writing-rules     # pull writing-rules into main
git push

merge opened Vim asking for a message. Vim = a text editor inside the terminal. no mouse, only keys. exit Vim: Esc, then type :wq, Enter. (:wq = save and quit)

my merge said it used the 'ort' strategy. from what I get so far: - if nothing new is on main, git just glues the new commits on the end → no message needed - if both branches have new stuff, git makes one extra commit to join them → that's what needed a message - 'ort' is just the name of the recipe git uses to combine them. don't really get the details yet, still looking into it.

deleting a branch (local only)

git branch -d writing-rules

removes the local branch label after merging. remote branch on GitHub stays.

.gitignore

plain text file at repo root. list of files/folders git should ignore. example from other projects:

venv/

keeps virtual env folders out of commits.

Flags I know

flag meaning
-c create (git switch)
-m message inline (git commit)
-u set upstream (git push)
--oneline one-line commits (git log)
--graph ASCII tree (git log)
--all every branch (git log)
--decorate show branch labels (git log)
--soft keep changes (git reset)
--hard discard changes (git reset)

look up flags: git <command> -h

Things that confused me

  • "nothing to commit" → forgot git add first
  • git tree doesn't work by default — would need to set up an alias
  • switching branches made Writing_Rules/ disappear from VS Code → that's normal, it lives in another snapshot
  • merge opened Vim → just :wq

What I haven't tried yet

  • merge conflicts
  • git rebase
  • git stash
  • pull requests via GitHub UI (only done local merge + push so far)