Git Emergency

I committed on the wrong branch

Severity Minor

What just happened

Your commits are on the current branch instead of the intended one. As long as they are not pushed, fixing this is quick.

Potential risks

  • If already pushed, treat it like a push to main: revert instead of reset.

Before you run anything

  • Commit or stash any pending change first.
  • Golden rule: before any destructive command, create a safety branch with git branch backup/before-fix โ€” it costs nothing.

Recovery steps

  1. 1

    Create the right branch here

    The new branch keeps your commits.

    Safe
    $ git branch feature/the-right-one
  2. 2

    Move the current branch back

    Replace 2 with the number of commits to move. Your commits stay safe on the new branch.

    Destructive
    $ git reset --hard HEAD~2
    $ git switch feature/the-right-one

These procedures are provided for information only. Read each command and adapt it to your situation before running it. Disclaimer

Other disasters

๐Ÿช“ I deleted my branch๐Ÿšจ I pushed directly to main๐Ÿ’ฅ I ran git reset --hard๐Ÿงจ I overwrote a colleague's commits๐Ÿ”‘ I pushed my .env file to GitHub๐Ÿ”€ I made a bad merge๐Ÿ‘ป I lost uncommitted changes๐ŸŽˆ I'm in โ€œdetached HEADโ€ stateโš”๏ธ I'm stuck in a merge conflict๐Ÿšซ My push is rejected (non-fast-forward)๐ŸŒ€ My rebase went wrong๐Ÿ˜ GitHub rejects a file over 100 MB๐Ÿฅธ I committed with the wrong name or email๐Ÿ—‘๏ธ I deleted a file and committed itโช I want to undo my last commitโœ๏ธ I amended a commit that was already pushed๐Ÿงน Too many messy commits to clean up๐Ÿ“ฎ I pushed to the wrong branch๐Ÿงญ I rebased onto the wrong branch๐Ÿ” I need back the changes I reverted๐Ÿ“ฆ git stash pop gave me a conflict๐Ÿ™ˆ I committed a file that should be ignored๐Ÿ”  Git doesn't see my file rename (upper/lower case)๐Ÿงจ I ran git clean -fd by mistake๐Ÿฉป My repository is corrupted๐Ÿ™ƒ I forgot to pull before pushing๐Ÿ‘ฏ Duplicated lines of code after a mergeโž– I added a file I didn't want to (git add)โœ๏ธ I made a typo in a commit messageโœ‚๏ธ My commit does too many things๐Ÿงบ I lost a stash (drop, clear or pop gone wrong)๐Ÿซฅ I pulled and my code disappeared๐Ÿ’ I cherry-picked the wrong commitโ˜๏ธ I deleted a branch on GitHub / GitLab๐Ÿ‘ฅ I pushed with the wrong GitHub account๐Ÿšš The repository was renamed or moved๐Ÿท๏ธ I tagged the wrong commit๐ŸŒŠ Git says every file is modified, but I changed nothing๐Ÿ“ฆ I committed node_modules (or a build folder)๐Ÿ“‚ I ran git init in the wrong folder๐Ÿงจ My pull request has conflictsโณ My pull request is behind main๐Ÿ“ I have to apply review changes to my PR๐Ÿงณ My PR shows commits that aren't mine๐ŸŽฏ I opened my PR against the wrong branch๐Ÿšจ A merged PR broke main๐Ÿšช I closed my PR (or deleted its branch) by mistake๐Ÿ”ด The checks of my PR are failing๐Ÿ˜ My PR is too big to review๐Ÿด My fork is behind the original repository