Git cheat sheet

1. 1How Git thinksGit makes sense once you know what it stores: snapshots of your files, linked into a history, with movable names pointing into that history. Every command in this sheet moves data between these places.7 concepts

   1. 1RepositoryA project folder tracked by Git.
   2. 2Working treeThe files you see and edit on disk, checked out from one commit.
   3. 3Staging areaA draft of the next commit.
   4. 4CommitA snapshot of the whole project at one moment, plus an author, a message and a pointer to its parent commit (two parents for a merge).
   5. 5Blobs, trees and hashesGit stores file contents as blobs, folders as trees and snapshots as commits, each addressed by a hash of its content.
   6. 6Branches and refsA branch is just a named pointer to a commit.
   7. 7HEAD and detached HEADHEAD is the pointer to what you have checked out, normally a branch name.

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2. 2Setup and everyday commandsConfigure Git once, then most days are a loop of status, add, commit and push. These are the commands you will type most often.7 concepts

   1. 1git configSets options at three levels: system, global (your user, in ~/.gitconfig) and local (one repository).
   2. 2git init and git clonegit init turns a folder into a new repository.
   3. 3git statusShows the current branch, how it compares with its upstream, and which files are staged, modified or untracked.
   4. 4git addStages changes into the index.
   5. 5git commitRecords the staged snapshot as a new commit on the current branch.
   6. 6git diffShows line changes.
   7. 7git rm and git mvgit rm deletes a file and stages the deletion; git rm --cached stops tracking it but keeps it on disk.

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3. Branching, merging and rebasingBranches let work happen in parallel; merge and rebase bring it back together. Knowing which to use, and how to resolve a conflict calmly, is most of day-to-day Git skill.8 conceptsOpens with credits
4. Remotes: fetch, pull and pushA remote is another copy of the repository, usually on GitHub or GitLab. Git never talks to it unless you fetch, pull or push, so knowing what each does avoids most surprises.7 conceptsOpens with credits
5. Undoing thingsAlmost nothing committed in Git is truly lost. The right undo depends on where the mistake lives: the working tree, the index, a local commit or a pushed commit.7 conceptsOpens with credits
6. History and inspectionGit history answers why code is the way it is, who to ask, and when a bug arrived. These commands turn the log into answers.7 conceptsOpens with credits
7. Tags, releases and code reviewHosting platforms add review and release features on top of Git. Pull requests on GitHub and merge requests on GitLab are the same idea with different names.7 conceptsOpens with credits
8. Workflows and commit hygieneA workflow is the team agreement on how branches, reviews and releases fit together. Good commits make any workflow easier to live with.7 conceptsOpens with credits
9. Ignoring, large files, signing and worktreesThe features you need once a project grows: keeping junk and secrets out, handling big binary files, proving who made a commit and working on two branches at once.8 conceptsOpens with credits
10. 10Glossary, A to ZEvery concept in the sheet and the smaller terms it uses, in one list.87 terms

How Git stores your work, the everyday commands, branching, undoing mistakes, remotes, reviews and team workflows.