Git Advanced Techniques: Level Up Your Version Control

Git is the foundation of modern software development, but most developers only use 10% of its capabilities. This article takes you deep into Git’s advanced techniques—from interactive rebasing to bisecting—giving you true control over version history.

Interactive Rebase

Interactive rebase is the Swiss Army knife for cleaning up commit history.

Basic Usage

# Interactive rebase on last 3 commits
git rebase -i HEAD~3

# Rebase all commits from a specific point
git rebase -i abc1234^

The editor opens with something like:

pick abc1234 Add user login feature
pick def5678 Fix login bug
pick ghi9012 Add login logging

# Commands:
# p, pick = use commit
# r, reword = use commit, but edit the commit message
# e, edit = use commit, but stop for amending
# s, squash = use commit, but meld into previous commit
# f, fixup = like squash, but discard commit message
# d, drop = remove commit

Practical Scenarios

1. Squash Multiple Commits

# Squash "Fix login bug" into "Add user login feature"
pick abc1234 Add user login feature
squash def5678 Fix login bug
pick ghi9012 Add login logging

2. Edit Commit Message

pick abc1234 Add user login feature
reword def5678 Fix login bug  # Will prompt for new message
pick ghi9012 Add login logging

3. Reorder Commits

pick ghi9012 Add login logging
pick abc1234 Add user login feature
pick def5678 Fix login bug

4. Split a Commit

# Mark commit to split as edit
pick abc1234 Add user login feature
edit def5678 Fix login bug and add captcha  # This commit is too big
pick ghi9012 Add login logging

# Git will stop at def5678
git reset HEAD^  # Undo commit but keep changes
git add login-fix.js
git commit -m "Fix login bug"
git add captcha.js
git commit -m "Add captcha feature"
git rebase --continue

Git Stash Advanced Usage

Basic Operations

# Stash current changes
git stash

# Stash with description
git stash push -m "Work in progress on login feature"

# List stashes
git stash list
# stash@{0}: On main: Work in progress on login feature
# stash@{1}: WIP on main: abc1234 previous commit

# Apply most recent stash
git stash pop

# Apply specific stash
git stash apply stash@{1}

# Drop a stash
git stash drop stash@{0}

Advanced Techniques

# Stash including untracked files
git stash -u
# or
git stash --include-untracked

# Stash everything (including ignored files)
git stash -a
# or
git stash --all

# Create branch from stash
git stash branch feature/login stash@{0}

# View stash contents
git stash show -p stash@{0}

# Stash only some changes (interactive)
git stash -p

Git Bisect: Binary Search for Bugs

When you know a bug was introduced in some commit but don’t know which one, git bisect helps you quickly locate it.

Manual Bisect

# Start bisecting
git bisect start

# Mark current version as bad
git bisect bad

# Mark a known good version
git bisect good v1.0.0

# Git checks out middle version, test and mark
git bisect good  # This version is OK
# or
git bisect bad   # This version has the bug

# Repeat until first bad commit is found
# Bisecting: 0 revisions left to test
# abc1234 is the first bad commit

# End bisecting
git bisect reset

Automated Bisect

# Automate with test script
git bisect start HEAD v1.0.0
git bisect run npm test

# Script returns 0 for good, non-zero for bad
# Git automatically finds the commit that introduced the bug

Git Worktree: Parallel Multi-Branch Development

Worktree lets you work on multiple branches simultaneously without switching back and forth.

# Create new worktree
git worktree add ../project-hotfix hotfix/urgent-fix
git worktree add ../project-feature feature/new-login

# Now you have three directories:
# /project          (main branch)
# /project-hotfix   (hotfix/urgent-fix branch)
# /project-feature  (feature/new-login branch)

# List all worktrees
git worktree list

# Remove worktree
git worktree remove ../project-hotfix

# Prune worktrees for deleted branches
git worktree prune

Use Case

Scenario: You're developing a feature when an urgent bug needs fixing

Traditional way:
1. git stash
2. git checkout hotfix
3. Fix the bug
4. git checkout feature
5. git stash pop

Worktree way:
1. git worktree add ../hotfix hotfix
2. cd ../hotfix
3. Fix the bug
4. cd ../project  # Continue previous work, no stash needed

Git Reflog: Time Machine

Reflog records all HEAD movements—it’s a lifesaver for recovering “lost” commits.

# View reflog
git reflog
# abc1234 HEAD@{0}: commit: Add new feature
# def5678 HEAD@{1}: checkout: moving from main to feature
# ghi9012 HEAD@{2}: commit: Previous commit
# ...

# Restore to previous state
git reset --hard HEAD@{2}

# Recover deleted branch
git checkout -b recovered-branch HEAD@{5}

# Recover reset commits
git cherry-pick abc1234

Recovery Scenarios

# Scenario 1: Accidentally ran git reset --hard
git reflog
# Find HEAD before reset
git reset --hard HEAD@{1}

# Scenario 2: Accidentally deleted a branch
git reflog
# Find branch's last commit
git checkout -b my-branch HEAD@{3}

# Scenario 3: Accidentally ran git rebase
git reflog
# Find state before rebase
git reset --hard HEAD@{5}

Git Hooks: Workflow Automation

Git Hooks let you run scripts when specific events occur.

Common Hooks

# Hook files in .git/hooks/ directory
pre-commit      # Runs before commit
prepare-commit-msg  # When preparing commit message
commit-msg      # Validate commit message
post-commit     # Runs after commit
pre-push        # Runs before push

Example: pre-commit

#!/bin/sh
# .git/hooks/pre-commit

# Run lint
npm run lint
if [ $? -ne 0 ]; then
  echo "Lint check failed, please fix before committing"
  exit 1
fi

# Run tests
npm test
if [ $? -ne 0 ]; then
  echo "Tests failed, please fix before committing"
  exit 1
fi

exit 0

Using Husky (Recommended)

# Install
npm install husky -D
npx husky init

# Add pre-commit hook
echo "npm run lint" > .husky/pre-commit

// package.json
{
  "scripts": {
    "prepare": "husky"
  }
}

Advanced Git Configuration

Useful Aliases

# ~/.gitconfig
[alias]
  # Short commands
  co = checkout
  br = branch
  ci = commit
  st = status

  # Pretty log
  lg = log --graph --pretty=format:'%Cred%h%Creset -%C(yellow)%d%Creset %s %Cgreen(%cr) %C(bold blue)<%an>%Creset' --abbrev-commit

  # Recent branches
  recent = branch --sort=-committerdate --format='%(committerdate:relative)%09%(refname:short)'

  # Undo last commit
  undo = reset HEAD~1 --mixed

  # Amend without editing message
  amend = commit --amend --no-edit

  # File history
  filelog = log -p --follow --

  # Cleanup merged branches
  cleanup = "!git branch --merged | grep -v '\\*\\|main\\|master' | xargs -n 1 git branch -d"

Other Useful Settings

# ~/.gitconfig
[core]
  # Default editor
  editor = code --wait

  # Auto-fix line endings
  autocrlf = input

[pull]
  # Use rebase instead of merge for pull
  rebase = true

[push]
  # Auto set upstream on push
  autoSetupRemote = true

[rerere]
  # Remember conflict resolutions
  enabled = true

[diff]
  # Better diff algorithm
  algorithm = histogram

[merge]
  # Show original in conflicts
  conflictstyle = zdiff3

Git Workflows

Git Flow

┌─────────────────────────────────────────────────────┐
│  main ──●──────────────────●──────────────●───────  │
│         │                  ↑              ↑         │
│         │                  │              │         │
│  develop ●────●────●───────●────●─────────●───────  │
│              │    ↑       ↑    │         ↑         │
│              │    │       │    │         │         │
│  feature/a   └────┘       │    │         │         │
│                           │    │         │         │
│  feature/b ───────────────┘    │         │         │
│                                │         │         │
│  release/1.0 ──────────────────┘         │         │
│                                          │         │
│  hotfix/bug ─────────────────────────────┘         │
└─────────────────────────────────────────────────────┘

Trunk-Based Development

┌─────────────────────────────────────────────────────┐
│  main ●──●──●──●──●──●──●──●──●──●──●──●──●──●───   │
│       ↑  ↑  ↑  ↑  ↑  ↑  ↑  ↑  ↑  ↑  ↑  ↑  ↑  ↑     │
│       │  │  │  │  │  │  │  │  │  │  │  │  │  │     │
│       └──┴──┴──┴──┴──┴──┴──┴──┴──┴──┴──┴──┴──┘     │
│        Short-lived feature branches, frequent merges │
└─────────────────────────────────────────────────────┘

Practical Tips Collection

Find Lost Commits

# Search commit messages
git log --all --grep="keyword"

# Search code changes
git log --all -S "code snippet"

# Search with regex
git log --all -G "regex pattern"

Batch Modify History

# Change email in all commits (use with caution!)
git filter-branch --env-filter '
if [ "$GIT_AUTHOR_EMAIL" = "old@email.com" ]; then
    export GIT_AUTHOR_EMAIL="new@email.com"
    export GIT_COMMITTER_EMAIL="new@email.com"
fi
' --tag-name-filter cat -- --branches --tags

# Better option: use git-filter-repo
pip install git-filter-repo
git filter-repo --email-callback 'return email.replace(b"old@email.com", b"new@email.com")'

Partial Clone

# Shallow clone (only recent history)
git clone --depth 1 https://github.com/user/repo.git

# Sparse checkout (only specific directories)
git clone --filter=blob:none --sparse https://github.com/user/repo.git
cd repo
git sparse-checkout set src/components

Summary

Git advanced techniques enable you to:

Key Takeaways:

1. git rebase -i is the power tool for history cleanup
2. git reflog can recover almost any “lost” work
3. git worktree makes multi-branch development efficient
4. git bisect quickly locates bug-introducing commits
5. Good alias configuration significantly boosts productivity

Master these advanced techniques, and Git transforms from a version control tool into your development superpower.

Version control isn’t just about saving history—it’s the art of controlling history.