Recovering From Common Git Mistakes

git reflog                     # every position HEAD has been in, newest first
git reflog show mybranch       # same for a specific branch

a1b2c3d HEAD@{0}: reset: moving to HEAD~3
e4f5g6h HEAD@{1}: commit: Add feature
...

git reset --hard HEAD@{1}       # go back to where you were before the reset
# or, non-destructively:
git branch recovered e4f5g6h

# You committed to main, meant to be on a feature branch. Nothing pushed.
git branch feature              # mark the current commit
git reset --hard HEAD~1         # move main back one (or --hard origin/main)
git switch feature              # your commit is here

git reset --soft HEAD~1         # commit undone, changes staged
git reset HEAD~1                # commit undone, changes unstaged (mixed, the default)
git reset --hard HEAD~1         # commit undone, changes GONE (reflog still has them)

git revert <sha>               # creates a NEW commit that inverts <sha>. Safe for shared history.
git revert -m 1 <merge-sha>    # revert a merge commit (keep parent 1)

git reflog | grep <branch-name>          # find its last commit
# or:
git fsck --lost-found                     # dangling commits
git branch <branch-name> <sha>

git fsck --no-reflog | awk '/dangling commit/ {print $3}' | \
  xargs -n1 git log --oneline -1          # find the stash commit
git stash apply <sha>

git reflog                                # HEAD@{1} is pre-amend
git reset --hard HEAD@{1}

git fsck --lost-found
ls .git/lost-found/other/                 # blobs; inspect with git cat-file -p

# If NOT pushed and it's the last commit:
git rm --cached secrets.env
git commit --amend
echo "secrets.env" >> .gitignore

# If it's deeper in history or pushed — rewrite history:
git filter-repo --path secrets.env --invert-paths      # (git-filter-repo, not filter-branch)
git push --force-with-lease

git status
git log --oneline --graph --all
git reflog
git fsck --full --no-reflog