Git Advanced Guide 2026: Branching Strategies, Rebase, and Team Workflows

main (always deployable)
├── feature/add-auth  → merge to main within 1-2 days
├── fix/login-bug     → merge to main within hours
└── release/v1.2      → cut from main, hotfix-only

main (production)
develop (integration)
├── feature/*   → merge to develop
├── release/*   → from develop → main
└── hotfix/*    → from main → main + develop

# Clean up last 5 commits before pushing
git rebase -i HEAD~5

# Opens editor with:
pick a1b2c3d Add user authentication
pick e4f5g6h Fix typo in login form
pick h7i8j9k Add tests for auth
pick l0m1n2o WIP
pick p3q4r5s Fix the WIP stuff

# Change to:
pick a1b2c3d Add user authentication
squash e4f5g6h Fix typo in login form   # Merge into previous
pick h7i8j9k Add tests for auth
fixup l0m1n2o WIP                       # Merge + discard message
fixup p3q4r5s Fix the WIP stuff         # Merge + discard message

# Commands:
# pick   = use commit as-is
# squash = merge into previous, combine messages
# fixup  = merge into previous, discard message
# reword = change commit message
# drop   = delete commit
# edit   = stop to amend

# Result: 2 clean commits instead of 5 messy ones

# Apply a commit from another branch
git cherry-pick a1b2c3d

# Cherry-pick a range
git cherry-pick a1b2c3d..p3q4r5s

# Cherry-pick without committing (to inspect first)
git cherry-pick --no-commit a1b2c3d

# Use case: hotfix deployed to production from a feature branch
# cherry-pick just the fix to the hotfix branch
git checkout hotfix/login-fix
git cherry-pick a1b2c3d  # Only the bug fix commit

# "My app broke somewhere in the last 200 commits. Where?"
git bisect start
git bisect bad              # Current commit is broken
git bisect good v1.0.0      # This version was fine

# Git checks out the middle commit
# Test your app, then:
git bisect good             # This commit is OK → search later half
git bisect bad              # This commit is broken → search earlier half

# After ~8 iterations (log₂ 200 ≈ 8), Git identifies the culprit
# Result: abc1234 is the first bad commit

git bisect reset            # Go back to HEAD

# Automated bisect with test script
git bisect run npm test     # Runs test suite on each candidate

# Save current changes
git stash                   # Quick save
git stash push -m "WIP: auth feature"  # With name
git stash push --include-untracked     # Include new files

# List stashes
git stash list
# stash@{0}: WIP: auth feature
# stash@{1}: On main: fix login bug

# Apply stash
git stash pop               # Apply and remove stash@{0}
git stash apply stash@{1}   # Apply without removing
git stash drop stash@{0}    # Delete specific stash
git stash clear             # Delete all stashes

# Create branch from stash
git stash branch feature/auth stash@{0}

# Scenario: main has new commits, you want them in your feature branch

# MERGE approach (creates merge commit)
git checkout feature/auth
git merge main
# Creates: "Merge branch 'main' into feature/auth" commit
# Pro: preserves exact history
# Con: messy commit history

# REBASE approach (rewrites history, linear)
git checkout feature/auth
git rebase main
# Replays your commits on top of main
# Pro: clean, linear history
# Con: rewrites commits (never rebase shared branches!)

# Interactive rebase during PR
git fetch origin
git rebase -i origin/main   # Clean up before merging

#!/bin/sh
# .git/hooks/pre-commit (chmod +x)

# Run linting before every commit
echo "Running linting..."
npm run lint
if [ $? -ne 0 ]; then
  echo "Linting failed. Fix errors before committing."
  exit 1
fi

# Run type check
echo "Running type check..."
npm run typecheck
if [ $? -ne 0 ]; then
  echo "Type errors found."
  exit 1
fi

echo "Pre-commit checks passed!"

#!/bin/sh
# .git/hooks/commit-msg
# Enforce conventional commit format

commit_msg_file=$1
commit_msg=$(cat "$commit_msg_file")

pattern="^(feat|fix|docs|style|refactor|test|chore|perf|ci|build|revert)(\(.+\))?: .{1,72}"

if ! echo "$commit_msg" | grep -qE "$pattern"; then
  echo "Invalid commit message format!"
  echo "Expected: type(scope): description"
  echo "Example: feat(auth): add JWT refresh token rotation"
  exit 1
fi

# Install with Husky (works across the team)
npm install -D husky lint-staged

# package.json
{
  "scripts": {
    "prepare": "husky install"
  },
  "lint-staged": {
    "*.{ts,tsx}": ["eslint --fix", "prettier --write"],
    "*.{json,md}": ["prettier --write"]
  }
}

npx husky add .husky/pre-commit "npx lint-staged"

# Format: type(scope): description
feat(auth): add Google OAuth login
fix(api): handle null user in getProfile
docs(readme): update installation steps
refactor(db): extract query helpers
test(auth): add unit tests for JWT refresh
perf(search): add vector index for embeddings
ci(actions): add staging deploy workflow
chore(deps): bump Next.js to 15.2.0

# Generate changelog automatically
npm install -D @changesets/cli
npx changeset  # Create a changeset
npx changeset version  # Bump versions
npx changeset publish  # Publish to npm

{
  "name": "webcoderspeed-monorepo",
  "workspaces": ["apps/*", "packages/*"]
}

// turbo.json
{
  "pipeline": {
    "build": {
      "dependsOn": ["^build"],
      "outputs": [".next/**", "dist/**"]
    },
    "test": {
      "outputs": ["coverage/**"]
    },
    "lint": {}
  }
}

# Run commands across all packages
turbo build                  # Build all (with caching)
turbo test                   # Test all in parallel
turbo lint --filter=web      # Only the web app
turbo build --filter=...api  # api and its dependencies