Undoing Things in Git — restore, reset, revert, amend and stash

Everyone makes mistakes in Git. The trick is knowing which undo command is safe in which situation.

1. Which undo do I need?

2. restore and amend

git restore index.html              # discard my changes (careful: they're gone)
git restore --staged index.html     # unstage, keep the changes
git add forgotten.css
git commit --amend -m "Add login page with styles"   # replace the last commit

Only amend commits you haven't pushed yet.

3. reset vs revert

reset — move the branch pointer back (rewrites history)

git reset --soft HEAD~1    # undo the commit, keep changes staged
git reset HEAD~1           # undo the commit, keep changes unstaged (default --mixed)
git reset --hard HEAD~1    # undo the commit AND delete the changes ⚠️

HEAD~1 = one commit before HEAD.

revert — add a new commit that undoes an old one (safe)

git revert 7d6e5f

History stays intact; teammates just pull the new "undo" commit.

Rule: pushed/shared → revert. Local only → reset is fine.

4. stash: save work without committing

You're halfway through a feature and need to fix an urgent bug on main:

git stash                  # put my unfinished changes aside
git switch main            # clean working directory
# ... fix the bug, commit, push ...
git switch feature/login
git stash pop              # bring my changes back
git stash list             # see all stashes

5. reflog: the safety net

Git remembers where HEAD has been, even after a bad reset --hard:

git reflog                 # list of recent HEAD positions
git reset --hard HEAD@{2}  # go back to where you were two moves ago

Commits are rarely truly lost for about 30 days.

Common mistakes

• git reset --hard with uncommitted work you wanted (it deletes it).
• Resetting or amending commits that teammates already pulled.
• Forgetting a stash exists (git stash list regularly).

Quick recap

• restore = discard/unstage file changes.
• amend = fix the latest (unpushed) commit.
• reset rewrites local history (--soft, mixed, --hard); revert safely undoes pushed commits.
• stash to park work; reflog to recover.