Skip to content
OPQAI.
Sourced intermediate / 💻 Coding Free tools

Undo a Git Rebase Mistake with Git Reflog and Reset

Job to be done: Undo a mistaken git rebase operation to recover lost work

🇳🇬 Ways to use this in Nigeria

Ideas to get you started, adapt to your situation.

  • 9-5 employee

    As a software engineer, quickly revert your feature branch to a stable commit after a failed Git rebase, ensuring no critical code changes are lost before a sprint deadline.

  • Entrepreneur

    As a tech startup founder, restore your application's codebase to a working state after a rebase operation went wrong, preventing loss of critical development work.

  • Student

    As a computer science student, recover your project code after accidentally losing commits during a Git rebase for your final year project (FYP) submission.

What you’ll get

You will learn how to recover commits you thought were lost after performing a Git rebase incorrectly. This method uses Git’s built-in history tracking to revert your branch to a previous state. It’s useful when you accidentally merge unwanted changes or lose your work.

Tools you need

  • Git (free): A version control system used for tracking changes in code and other files.

Steps

  1. Check your current branch and history: Before trying to undo anything, it’s good practice to see where you are. Make sure you are on the branch you want to fix.

    • You should see your current branch name, and a list of commits with their unique IDs and messages.

  2. Find the commit before the bad rebase: Use the git reflog command to see a history of where your branch’s tip has been. Look for the commit message that was present just before you performed the git rebase command. The author found a reference like HEAD@{7}.

    git reflog
    *   You should see a list of actions your branch has taken, with references like `HEAD@{0}`, `HEAD@{1}`, etc., and the commit messages associated with them.

3.  **Reset your branch to the desired commit**: Once you've identified the correct `HEAD@{n}` reference from the reflog, use `git reset --hard` to move your branch back to that point. The author used `HEAD@{7}` as an example.
    ```bash
    git reset --hard HEAD@{7}
  • Your branch will now point to the commit you specified, effectively undoing the rebase and any commits that came after it. You should see a message indicating the branch has been updated.

Original source

This guide is based on a blog post by cheerazar on DEV Community. It explains how to recover from a mistaken Git rebase by using Git’s reflog to find a previous state and then resetting the branch to that state.

Notes & variations

  • Free-tier alternative: Git itself is free and works offline, so there are no tier limitations.
  • Common mistake: Using git reset --hard will discard any new commits made after the target commit. Ensure you have the correct HEAD@{n} reference before running this command. If you’re unsure, you can use git reset HEAD@{n} (without --hard) to move the branch pointer without discarding commits, allowing you to inspect the changes first.
  • Tip for better results: If you’re not sure which commit to reset to, examine the commit messages in the git reflog output carefully. You can also use git log to see more details about each commit before deciding.

Keep going

More Coding workflows