Git Rebase Conflict Recovery Quick Snip

A practical recovery flow for rebases gone sideways, including conflict resolution, safe abort, and clean continuation.

3 min read
#tooling #productivity

Rebase conflicts are not the real problem. Panic is the problem, especially when commits start moving and the history graph looks unfamiliar. This flow keeps your branch recoverable at every step, so you can fix conflicts without sacrificing traceability or making the cleanup harder than the original mistake.

If you are unsure, create safety first, then proceed.

Snapshot Before You Touch Anything

@itsnas
main
git status
git branch backup/rebase-$(date +%Y%m%d-%H%M)
main
Naseebullah
Ln 1, Col 1UTF-8

You now have a rollback point.

Resolve and Continue

@itsnas
main
# See conflicted files
git diff --name-only --diff-filter=U
 
# After fixing files
git add <file1> <file2>
git rebase --continue
main
Naseebullah
Ln 1, Col 1UTF-8

Repeat until complete.

If You Need to Pause or Exit

@itsnas
main
# Stop and return to pre-rebase state
git rebase --abort
 
# Skip a problematic commit (use carefully)
git rebase --skip
main
Naseebullah
Ln 1, Col 1UTF-8

Verify Before Push

@itsnas
main
git log --oneline --graph --decorate -20
git diff origin/main...HEAD
main
Naseebullah
Ln 1, Col 1UTF-8

If history is clean and diff is expected, push with lease:

@itsnas
main
git push --force-with-lease
main
Naseebullah
Ln 1, Col 1UTF-8

Use force-with-lease, never force, when rebasing shared history.

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