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Recover lost commits with the reflog

careful advanced #reflog#recover#lost#reset

When to use this: You reset, rebased or deleted a branch and now commits or work seem to be gone.

Be careful with this one. Check git status before you run it.

Before you start

Commits that were once in your local repo usually remain recoverable for weeks. Stop and do not run git gc.
Uncommitted work that was discarded is NOT in the reflog.

Steps

Look at where HEAD has been
terminal
```
git reflog
```
Each line is a place HEAD pointed to, newest first, like HEAD@{3}. Find the line just before things went wrong.
Expected output
```
8c4d7e0 HEAD@{0}: reset: moving to HEAD~2
a91b3c4 HEAD@{1}: commit: Add contact page
3f2a1b9 HEAD@{2}: commit: Fix nav
```
Rescue the commit onto a new branch
terminal
```
git switch -c rescue a91b3c4
```
Safest option: puts a branch label on the lost commit so nothing can lose it again.
Or move the current branch back to it
terminal
```
git reset --hard a91b3c4
```
Moves the current branch to that commit. Discards uncommitted changes, so only run it on a clean tree.

How to verify it worked

git log --oneline shows the commits you thought were lost.

Common errors and fixes

The commit is not in git reflog It may have been in another clone, or expired. Check GitHub (a pushed commit remains on the server), or git fsck --lost-found for unreachable objects.

Q&A

How long does the reflog keep entries?

By default about 90 days for reachable entries and 30 days for unreachable ones. It is local to each clone and is not pushed.

Practice these as flashcards →

Terms in this scenario

Reflog HEAD Branch

Related scenarios

My notes

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