Git Cheatsheet

Wed, 10 Jun 2026 00:00:00 +0000

A quick reference for the Git commands used most often in day-to-day development.

Cloning and branches #

git clone <URL> — clone a repository to your local workspace
git checkout <branch> — switch to an existing branch
git checkout -b <branch> — create a new branch and switch to it
git branch — list local branches
git branch -vv — list local branches with their last commit and the upstream (remote-tracking) branch they’re tracking, e.g. [origin/main: ahead 2]

git add . / <file> — stage changes in a file (or all changes with .)
git reset — unstage all changes, keeping the changes in your working directory intact (equivalent to git reset --mixed HEAD)
git restore <file> — restore a file in the working tree from the index (staging area), discarding unstaged edits. To also discard staged changes and fully revert to the last commit, use git restore --staged <file> first (or git restore --source=HEAD --staged --worktree <file> to do both in one step)

git commit -m "comment" — save staged changes to the current branch
git remote -v — list remote repositories and their fetch/push URLs
git remote add origin <URL> — register a remote repository under the name “origin”
git remote set-url origin <URL> — change the URL associated with the “origin” remote
git push -u origin <local branch>:<remote branch> — push a branch to the remote and set it as the upstream for future git push/git pull

git merge <branch> — merge the given branch into the current branch
git merge --abort — cancel an in-progress merge and return to the pre-merge state