/undo

Undo

Undo a recent git mistake safely.

What happened?

$ARGUMENTS — describe the mistake (e.g. "committed to main by accident", "undo last commit", "wrong files got committed")

Common scenarios

Undo last commit, keep the changes

git reset --soft HEAD~1

Changes go back to staging. Nothing lost.

Undo last commit, unstage the changes

git reset HEAD~1

Changes stay in working directory but are unstaged.

Accidentally committed to main

1. Create a new branch from current state 2. Switch back to main 3. Reset main to before the commit 4. Push the changes on the new branch instead

Wrong files got committed

1. `git reset --soft HEAD~1` to undo the commit 2. Unstage the wrong files 3. Re-commit with only the correct files

Need to recover something lost

1. Check `git reflog` to find the state you want 2. Explain each reflog entry in plain language 3. Ask before taking any action

Rules

• Always explain what will happen before running destructive commands
• Prefer `--soft` over `--hard` to preserve work
• Never run `git reset --hard` without explicit confirmation
• If changes have been pushed, use `git revert` instead of `git reset`
• Check `git stash list` — the user might have stashed work they forgot about