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https://github.com/thalsi/git

Master Git step-by-step from beginner to advanced. Check off tasks as you complete them!
https://github.com/thalsi/git

git github tutorial

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Master Git step-by-step from beginner to advanced. Check off tasks as you complete them!

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README 

          
# ✅ Git Mastery Checklist (Beginner → Advanced)



---

🟢 Beginner



## 🧩 1. Setup & Configuration

- [x] Install Git

- [x] git config --global user.name "Your Name"

- [x] git config --global user.email "you@example.com"

- [x] Set default branch: `init.defaultBranch main`

- [x] Set default editor: VS Code, Vim, etc.

- [x] Enable color UI

- [x] View current config: `git config --list`

- [x] View current config: `git config --list --global`



---



## 📁 2. Git Basics

- [x] git init

        - Initialize a new Git repository.

- [x] git status

        - Check the status of files — modified, staged, untracked.

- [x] git add  / git add .

        - Stage file(s) to be committed.

- [x] git commit -m "message"

        - Commit staged changes with a message.

- [x] git log / git log --oneline

        - View commit history (detailed or short).

- [x] git diff

        - See what’s changed before staging.

- [x] git show

        - Show the details of a specific commit.

- [x] Use .gitignore

        - Ignore files you don’t want Git to track (e.g., node_modules/, env, dist).



---



## 🌿 3. Branching & Merging

1. Branching



- [x] `git branch` – List all local branches  

- [x] `git branch ` – Create a new branch  

- [x] `git switch ` – Switch to a branch (newer)  

- [x] `git checkout ` – Switch to a branch (older method)  

- [x] `git checkout -b ` – Create and switch to a new branch  

- [x] `git branch -d ` – Delete a local branch (safe)  

- [x] `git branch -D ` – Delete a local branch (force)  

- [x] `git branch -m ` – Rename current branch  

- [x] `git branch -vv` – Show branches with last commit info  

- [x] `git push origin ` – Push branch to remote  

- [x] `git push --set-upstream origin ` – Link local branch to remote

- [x] `git fetch --all` – Fetches all branches from all remotes (usually just origin) but does NOT merge or checkout anything.

- [x] `git fetch -p` – It tells Git to remove (prune) any remote-tracking branches that no longer exist on the remote.



2. Merging

Git Merge is used to combine changes from one branch into another.

Usually, you merge a feature branch into a main/stable branch.



📦 Merge Types in Git



| Merge Type                           | Description                                                 |

| ------------------------------------ | ----------------------------------------------------------- |

| 🟢 Fast-forward Merge                | Simple move of the pointer if there’s no diverging history. |

| 🟡 Recursive Merge                   | The default merge strategy when branches have diverged.     |

| 🔵 No Fast-forward Merge (`--no-ff`) | Always creates a merge commit to preserve history.          |

| 🔴 Manual Merge                      | Required when there’s a **conflict**.                       |



✳️ Common Merge Commands

- [x] `git merge ` – Merge the given branch into the current branch  

- [x] `git merge --no-ff ` – Force a merge commit even on fast-forward  

- [x] `git merge --squash ` – Merge and squash into a single commit  

- [x] `git merge --abort` – Abort a merge in progress  

- [x] `git merge --continue` – Continue merge after resolving conflicts  



---



## 🌐 4. Remote Repositories

- [x] git remote add origin 

- [x] git push -u origin main

- [x] git push / git pull

- [x] git clone 

- [x] git remote -v

- [x] git push --set-upstream origin 

- [x] git branch -vv

- [x] git branch --set-upstream-to



---



## 🧼 5. Undo & History Fixing

- [x] git reset --soft / --mixed / --hard

- [x] git restore 

- [x] git restore . 

- [x] git restore --staged 

- [x] git commit --amend

- [x] git reflog

- [x] git clean -fd

- [x] git reset --merge (undo merge)



---

🟡 Intermediate



## 🔁 6. Rebase & Cherry-Pick



### 🍒 Cherry-pick

- [x] `git cherry-pick ` – Apply specific commit from another branch  

- [x] `git cherry-pick commit1 commit2 commit3` – You can also cherry-pick multiple commits

- [x] `git cherry-pick A^..B` –  even a range of commits



### Rebase

git rebase moves or reapplies commits from one branch on top of another.

It rewrites history to create a cleaner, linear commit history.



🎯 When to Use Rebase

✅ Clean up history

✅ Avoid extra merge commits

✅ Keep project history linear

✅ Re-apply your local feature branch on top of main



- [x] `git rebase ` – Reapply current branch commits on top of ``  

- [x] `git rebase -i ` – Interactive rebase: squash, reword, drop commits  

- [x] `git rebase -i HEAD~n` – Interactively edit the last `n` commits  

- [x] `git rebase --autosquash` – Auto-squash commits marked with `fixup!` or `squash!`  

- [x] `git rebase --continue` – Continue rebase after resolving conflicts  

- [x] `git rebase --abort` – Abort the rebase and return to the previous state  

- [x] `git rebase --skip` – Skip the current conflicting commit during rebase  

- [x] `git pull --rebase` – Pull latest changes using rebase instead of merge  

- [x] `git status` – Check status during rebase (conflicts, progress)  

- [x] `git log` – Review commit history before/after rebase  

- [x] Resolve conflicts manually – Fix file conflicts and mark as resolved  



| Command  | `git rebase -i ` Meaning                  |

| -------- | ------------------------------------------------- |

| `pick`   | Keep commit as-is                                 |

| `reword` | Change commit message                             |

| `edit`   | Pause to change content                           |

| `squash` | Combine with previous commit (keep both messages) |

| `fixup`  | Combine with previous, discard this message       |

| `drop`   | Delete this commit                                |

---



## 🏷️ 7. Tags & Releases

- [x] git tag 

- [x] git tag -a  -m "message"

- [x] git show 

- [x] git push origin 

- [x] git push --tags



---



## 📦 8. Stashing & Cleaning



- [x] `git stash` – Stash tracked modified files

- [x] `git stash -u` – Stash tracked + untracked files (not ignored)

- [x] `git stash -a` – Stash all (tracked + untracked + ignored)

- [x] `git stash list` – View list of stashes

- [x] `git stash show` – Show summary of latest stash

- [x] `git stash show -p` – Show patch/diff of latest stash

- [x] `git stash pop` – Apply stash and delete it

- [x] `git stash apply` – Apply stash but keep it

- [x] `git stash drop` – Delete latest stash

- [x] `git stash clear` – Delete all stashes

- [x] `git stash push -m "message"` – Stash with custom message



---



## 🔍 9. Git Inspection Tools

- [x] git log with formatting

- [x] git diff --cached

- [x] git blame 

- [x] git describe

- [x] git shortlog

- [x] git shortlog -sn



---



## 👥 10. Team Collaboration

- [x] Use Pull Requests / Merge Requests

- [x] Feature branch workflow

- [x] Gitflow workflow

- [x] Code review & approvals

- [x] Protected branches

- [x] Squash commits before merge



---



## 🛠️ 11. Git Hooks & Automation

- [x] Setup Husky for hooks

- [x] Use pre-commit, commit-msg, post-merge

- [x] Use lint-staged for auto formatting

- [x] Create .husky/ scripts

- [ ] Use `git commit --no-verify` (with caution)



---



## 🗂️ 12. Aliases & Tools

- [ ] Create git aliases

- [ ] Use Git GUI tools

- [ ] Use .gitattributes

- [ ] Try https://learngitbranching.js.org

- [ ] Use GitLens in VS Code

- [ ] Use `diff-so-fancy` for better diffs



---



## ⚙️ 13. Git Internals (Advanced)

- [ ] Understand .git/ structure

- [ ] Git Object Types: blob, tree, commit, tag

- [ ] Learn about HEAD, refs, index

- [ ] Learn SHA-1 and commit IDs



---



## 🐞 14. Debugging & Recovery

- [ ] Conflict resolution

- [ ] Detached HEAD fixes

- [ ] Use reflog to recover lost commits

- [ ] git bisect start / bad / good (binary search debugging)



---



## 🚀 15. CI/CD Integration

- [ ] Setup GitHub Actions or GitLab CI

- [ ] Configure .github/workflows/

- [ ] Use CI for test/lint/build

- [ ] Auto deployment with git tags

- [ ] Test GitHub Actions locally with `act`



---



## ✏️ 16. Commit Message Standards

- [x] Use Conventional Commits (feat:, fix:, chore:, etc.)

- [x] Install commitlint

- [x] Use Commitizen (cz) for commits

- [x] Validate commits with hooks



---



## 📁 17. Monorepo & Submodules

- [ ] git submodule add

- [ ] git submodule update --init

- [ ] Learn subtrees (optional)

- [ ] Use Nx or Lerna for monorepo



---

🔴 Advanced



## 🔐 18. Security & Best Practices

- [ ] Use .env files and gitignore

- [ ] Install git-secrets

- [ ] GPG sign commits

- [ ] Enable 2FA on GitHub

- [ ] Remove secrets from history (BFG or git filter-branch)



---



## 🏢 19. Git in Teams

- [ ] Simulate team workflows

- [ ] Use pair programming tools (git-duet)

- [ ] Create/merge PRs

- [ ] Trunk-based development

- [ ] Fork vs shared branch model



---



## 🌍 20. Git Hosting Platforms

- [ ] GitHub

- [ ] GitLab

- [ ] Bitbucket

- [ ] Azure Repos



---



## 🧪 21. Extra Git Tools

- [ ] git worktree (multiple working dirs)

- [ ] git archive (create zip/tar)

- [ ] git format-patch / git apply / git am (email-based flow)

- [ ] git fame (contribution analytics)

- [ ] git LFS for large files



---



## 📚 22. Learning Resources

- [ ] https://git-scm.com/book

- [ ] https://learngitbranching.js.org

- [ ] https://ohmygit.org

- [ ] Git cheatsheets from GitHub



---



## ✍️ BONUS: Aliases to Save Time

```bash

git config --global alias.st status

git config --global alias.co checkout

git config --global alias.br branch

git config --global alias.cm commit

git config --global alias.lg "log --oneline --graph --all"

```



---



## 🧠 23. Advanced History & Commit Management

- [ ] git commit --fixup and git rebase --autosquash

- [ ] git notes – add metadata/comments to commits

- [ ] git revert -n (stage multiple reverts)

- [ ] Understand orphan branches: git checkout --orphan newbranch



---



## 🗃️ 24. Repo Size & History Optimization

- [ ] git gc (garbage collection to optimize repo)

- [ ] git repack (compress objects)

- [ ] git verify-pack / git count-objects -v (inspect storage)

- [ ] Use BFG Repo-Cleaner for large repos



---



## 🛡️ 25. Git & Compliance

- [ ] Audit history for secrets (truffleHog, gitleaks)

- [ ] Enforce signed commits via branch protection

- [ ] Enforce linear history in main branch

- [ ] Use branch naming conventions and enforce them



---



## ⚡ 26. Git Performance & Scaling

- [ ] Use git sparse-checkout (large monorepos)

- [ ] Partial clone (--filter=blob:none) for huge projects

- [ ] Split large repos with git subtree split



---



## 🔧 27. Custom Git Workflows

- [ ] Setup custom merge drivers

- [ ] Setup .mailmap to unify commit authors

- [ ] Use .git/info/exclude for local-only ignores

- [ ] Custom diff drivers (e.g., for .psd files)



---



## 📈 28. Git Analytics & Stats

- [ ] Generate contributor graphs (git shortlog, git fame)

- [ ] Generate churn stats (git log --stat)

- [ ] Track contribution activity with git log --since or GitHub Insights



---



## 🔁 29. Git Replace & Filter Branch

- [ ] git replace to swap objects in history

- [ ] git filter-branch for complex rewriting

- [ ] Use with caution — avoid on shared history



---



## 🌐 30. Git Across Environments

- [ ] Use Git with GitHub CLI (gh)

- [ ] Use Git in CI runners and scripts

- [ ] Use Git in Docker images for automation

- [ ] Access GitHub/GitLab via REST API