abhiroopb/skills/rebasing-git-branches

Rebasing Git Branches

Rebases the current or specified branch onto its upstream target branch, handling conflicts interactively.

Capabilities

• Rebase current branch onto main/master or any target branch
• Interactive rebase (squash, reorder, edit commits)
• Resolve merge conflicts during rebase
• Abort or continue in-progress rebases
• Rebase onto upstream after fetching latest changes

Workflows

Standard Rebase onto Main

1. Run git fetch origin to get the latest remote state
2. Identify the target branch (default: main, fallback: master)
3. Run git rebase origin/<target> to rebase the current branch
4. If conflicts occur, follow the conflict resolution workflow below

Interactive Rebase

1. Determine how many commits to include: git log --oneline origin/main..HEAD
2. Run git rebase -i origin/main (or specify commit count with HEAD~N)
3. Edit the rebase todo list as requested (squash, reword, reorder, drop)
4. Resolve any conflicts that arise

Conflict Resolution

When a rebase pauses due to conflicts:

1. Run git status to identify conflicted files
2. Read each conflicted file to understand both sides
3. Edit files to resolve conflicts (remove conflict markers)
4. Stage resolved files with git add <file>
5. Continue with git rebase --continue
6. Repeat if more conflicts arise

Abort a Rebase

If the rebase cannot be completed or the user wants to cancel:

1. Run git rebase --abort to return to the pre-rebase state

Important Notes

• Always git fetch origin before rebasing to ensure up-to-date refs
• Never force-push (git push --force-with-lease) without explicit user consent
• When resolving conflicts, preserve the intent of both the current branch and the target branch changes
• If unsure about a conflict resolution, show both versions to the user and ask