--- title: Git Rebase: What Can Go Wrong? « ipSpace.net blog description: A brief endorsement of Julia Evans' article on the pitfalls of git rebase, paired with personal tips on using it safely. Key advice includes always using the... canonical: https://daily.dev/posts/git-rebase-what-can-go-wrong-ipspace-net-blog-6mfqv1los twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:site: @dailydotdev og:type: website og:site_name: daily.dev og:title: Git Rebase: What Can Go Wrong? « ipSpace.net blog | daily.dev og:description: A brief endorsement of Julia Evans' article on the pitfalls of git rebase, paired with personal tips on using it safely. Key advice includes always using the... og:url: https://daily.dev/posts/git-rebase-what-can-go-wrong-ipspace-net-blog-6mfqv1los og:image: https://api.daily.dev/og/posts/6mfqv1LOs.png og:image:alt: Git Rebase: What Can Go Wrong? « ipSpace.net blog og:image:width: 1200 og:image:height: 630 og:locale: en --- > ## Documentation Index > Fetch the complete documentation index at: https://daily.dev/llms.txt > Use this file to discover all available pages before exploring further. # Git Rebase: What Can Go Wrong? « ipSpace.net blog **[ipSpace.net Blog](https://daily.dev/sources/ipspace)** · 1 min read · 0 upvotes · 0 comments ## Summary A brief endorsement of Julia Evans' article on the pitfalls of git rebase, paired with personal tips on using it safely. Key advice includes always using the interactive option, keeping a backup branch or remote copy before rebasing, using git reflog to recover lost commits, and pushing a branch before heavy rebase work so you can hard-reset if needed. Additional techniques mentioned include Annie Sexton's method of discarding messy commit history and regenerating clean commits, and using git add --patch or tools like tig/gitui for staging individual hunks or lines. ## Full article daily.dev links to this article rather than hosting it. Read it at the original source: ## Questions this post answers ### How can I safely undo a git rebase that went wrong? Push your branch to a remote before starting any rebase work, then run `git reset --hard @{u}` to restore it to the pre-rebase state. Alternatively, use `git reflog` or `git reflog --date=human` to find the commit your HEAD was at before the rebase — Git retains this history for roughly six months, so commits are recoverable even after a messy rebase. _Developers navigating tricky rebase recoveries find relevant tips and tooling discussions on daily.dev._ ## Similar posts on daily.dev - [git rebase -i is not that scary](https://daily.dev/posts/git-rebase--i-is-not-that-scary-6h0zn0hc1) · Lobsters · 2 upvotes · 0 comments - [Git Rebase for the Terrified](https://daily.dev/posts/git-rebase-for-the-terrified-ynroja8em) · Hacker News · 1 upvotes · 0 comments - [The Git Recovery Guide: How to Undo Anything \(Without Panic\)](https://daily.dev/posts/the-git-recovery-guide-how-to-undo-anything-without-panic--alupd6iws) · DEV · 1 upvotes · 0 comments - [Git UNDO : How to Rewrite Git History with Confidence](https://daily.dev/posts/git-undo-how-to-rewrite-git-history-with-confidence-p2tuql4z7) · Towards Data Science · 1 upvotes · 0 comments - [Git Rebase Deleted Nothing. Your Commit Is Still in the Reflog.](https://daily.dev/posts/git-rebase-deleted-nothing-your-commit-is-still-in-the-reflog--fczn8gdo7) · Medium · 0 upvotes · 0 comments --- Tags: [#git](https://daily.dev/tags/git), [#version-control](https://daily.dev/tags/version-control) [View this post on daily.dev](https://daily.dev/posts/git-rebase-what-can-go-wrong-ipspace-net-blog-6mfqv1los) ```json {"@context":"https://schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Organization","@id":"https://daily.dev/#organization","name":"daily.dev","url":"https://daily.dev","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://daily.dev/apple-touch-icon.png","width":180,"height":180},"sameAs":["https://twitter.com/dailydotdev","https://github.com/dailydotdev","https://www.linkedin.com/company/daily-dev-ltd"]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https://daily.dev/#website","url":"https://daily.dev","name":"daily.dev","publisher":{"@id":"https://daily.dev/#organization"},"potentialAction":{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https://daily.dev/search?q={search_term_string}"},"query-input":"required name=search_term_string"}}]} {"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"TechArticle","headline":"Git Rebase: What Can Go Wrong? « ipSpace.net blog","url":"https://daily.dev/posts/git-rebase-what-can-go-wrong-ipspace-net-blog-6mfqv1los","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://daily.dev/posts/git-rebase-what-can-go-wrong-ipspace-net-blog-6mfqv1los"},"datePublished":"2026-08-11T08:55:58.556Z","dateModified":"2026-08-11T09:06:31.904Z","description":"A brief endorsement of Julia Evans' article on the pitfalls of git rebase, paired with personal tips on using it safely. 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