Git & GitHub — The Developer's Guide

# Set your identity (required for commits)

git config –global user.name “Your Name”
git config –global user.email “you@example.com”

# Set default branch name
git config –global init.defaultBranch main

# View all config
git config –list

# Create a new local repo

git init

# Clone an existing remote repo
git clone https://github.com/org/repo.git

# Clone into a specific folder
git clone https://github.com/org/repo.git my-folder

# Check status of working directory

git status

# Stage specific files
git add file1.java file2.java

# Stage all changes
git add .

# Commit with a message
git commit -m “feat: add user authentication endpoint”

# Push to remote
git push origin feature/my-branch

# Pull latest changes
git pull origin main

# View commit log

git log –oneline –graph –all

# Show changes in working directory
git diff

# Show staged changes
git diff –staged

# Show a specific commit
git show a1b2c3d

# Who changed each line?
git blame src/Main.java

# List all branches (* = current)

git branch

# List remote branches
git branch -r

# Create a new branch
git branch feature/login-page

# Switch to a branch
git checkout feature/login-page

# Create AND switch (shorthand)
git checkout -b feature/login-page

# Modern alternative (Git 2.23+)
git switch -c feature/login-page

# Delete a local branch
git branch -d feature/login-page

# Force delete (unmerged branch)
git branch -D feature/login-page

# Delete a remote branch
git push origin –delete feature/login-page

# Switch to the target branch

git checkout main

# Merge the feature branch
git merge feature/login-page

# Merge with no fast-forward (always create merge commit)
git merge –no-ff feature/login-page

# Abort a merge in progress
git merge –abort

# Rebase current branch onto main

git checkout feature/login-page
git rebase main

# Interactive rebase (squash, reorder, edit commits)
git rebase -i HEAD~3

# Abort a rebase in progress
git rebase –abort

# Continue after resolving conflicts
git rebase –continue

<<<<<<< HEAD

# your changes on the current branch

incoming changes from the other branch
>>>>>>> feature/login-page

# After manually editing the file to resolve:
git add resolved-file.java
git commit

# View remotes

git remote -v

# Add a remote
git remote add upstream https://github.com/original/repo.git

# Fetch all remote branches (without merging)
git fetch –all

# Pull = fetch + merge
git pull origin main

# Pull with rebase (cleaner history)
git pull –rebase origin main

# Push and set upstream tracking
git push -u origin feature/my-branch

# Create a PR

gh pr create –title “feat: add notifications” –body “Adds email notifications for overdue payments”

# List open PRs
gh pr list

# Check out a PR locally
gh pr checkout 42

# Merge a PR
gh pr merge 42 –squash

# Stash all uncommitted changes

git stash

# Stash with a descriptive message
git stash push -m “WIP: halfway through login refactor”

# Stash including untracked files
git stash -u

# List all stashes
git stash list

# Apply most recent stash (keeps it in stash list)
git stash apply

# Apply and remove from stash list
git stash pop

# Apply a specific stash
git stash apply stash@{2}

# View stash contents
git stash show -p stash@{0}

# Drop a specific stash
git stash drop stash@{1}

# Clear all stashes
git stash clear

# Start a new feature

git checkout develop
git checkout -b feature/user-profile

# Finish a feature (merge back to develop)
git checkout develop
git merge –no-ff feature/user-profile
git branch -d feature/user-profile

# Start a release
git checkout develop
git checkout -b release/1.2.0

# Finish a release
git checkout main
git merge –no-ff release/1.2.0
git tag -a v1.2.0 -m “Release 1.2.0”
git checkout develop
git merge –no-ff release/1.2.0

# Hotfix
git checkout main
git checkout -b hotfix/critical-fix
# … fix the issue …
git checkout main
git merge –no-ff hotfix/critical-fix
git tag -a v1.2.1
git checkout develop
git merge –no-ff hotfix/critical-fix

type(scope): short description

Optional body with more detail.
Explain WHAT changed and WHY, not HOW.

Refs: JIRA-123

# IntelliJ IDEA

.idea/
*.iml
*.iws
out/

# Build output
target/
build/
*.class
*.jar
*.war

# Environment & secrets
.env
*.properties.local
application-local.yml

# OS files
.DS_Store
Thumbs.db

# Logs
*.log
logs/

git config --global alias.st "status -sb"

git config –global alias.co “checkout”
git config –global alias.br “branch”
git config –global alias.ci “commit”
git config –global alias.lg “log –oneline –graph –all –decorate”
git config –global alias.last “log -1 HEAD –stat”
git config –global alias.unstage “restore –staged”