Git Emergency
I deleted my branch
Severity Annoying
What just happened
Deleting a branch only deletes a label pointing to a commit. The commits themselves stay in your local repository for weeks (until garbage collection), and the reflog remembers where the branch was.
Potential risks
- Running git gc --prune=now would really erase the orphan commits.
- If the branch was only on a teammate's machine, only they can restore it.
Before you run anything
- Do not run git gc or git prune until you have recovered the branch.
- Deleted on GitHub? The PR page has a “Restore branch” button.
Recovery steps
- 1
Find the last commit of the branch
git branch -D printed “Deleted branch x (was abc1234)”. Lost that message? The reflog lists every position HEAD went through.
Safe$ git reflog --date=relative | grep -i 'my-branch' - 2
Recreate the branch on that commit
Replace abc1234 with the hash you found. Nothing is overwritten: you only create a new label.
Safe$ git branch my-branch abc1234 - 3
Push it back to the remote
Only if the branch also disappeared from the remote.
Caution$ git push -u origin my-branch
These procedures are provided for information only. Read each command and adapt it to your situation before running it. Disclaimer
Other disasters
🚨 I pushed directly to main💥 I ran git reset --hard🧨 I overwrote a colleague's commits🔑 I pushed my .env file to GitHub🔀 I made a bad merge👻 I lost uncommitted changes🎯 I committed on the wrong branch🎈 I'm in “detached HEAD” state⚔️ I'm stuck in a merge conflict🚫 My push is rejected (non-fast-forward)🌀 My rebase went wrong🐘 GitHub rejects a file over 100 MB🥸 I committed with the wrong name or email🗑️ I deleted a file and committed it⏪ I want to undo my last commit✏️ I amended a commit that was already pushed🧹 Too many messy commits to clean up📮 I pushed to the wrong branch🧭 I rebased onto the wrong branch🔁 I need back the changes I reverted📦 git stash pop gave me a conflict🙈 I committed a file that should be ignored🔠 Git doesn't see my file rename (upper/lower case)🧨 I ran git clean -fd by mistake🩻 My repository is corrupted🙃 I forgot to pull before pushing👯 Duplicated lines of code after a merge➖ I added a file I didn't want to (git add)✏️ I made a typo in a commit message✂️ My commit does too many things🧺 I lost a stash (drop, clear or pop gone wrong)🫥 I pulled and my code disappeared🍒 I cherry-picked the wrong commit☁️ I deleted a branch on GitHub / GitLab👥 I pushed with the wrong GitHub account🚚 The repository was renamed or moved🏷️ I tagged the wrong commit🌊 Git says every file is modified, but I changed nothing📦 I committed node_modules (or a build folder)📂 I ran git init in the wrong folder🧨 My pull request has conflicts⏳ My pull request is behind main📝 I have to apply review changes to my PR🧳 My PR shows commits that aren't mine🎯 I opened my PR against the wrong branch🚨 A merged PR broke main🚪 I closed my PR (or deleted its branch) by mistake🔴 The checks of my PR are failing🐘 My PR is too big to review🍴 My fork is behind the original repository