Git Rebase

Rebasing to Main

bash

git fetch origin
git rebase origin/main

Autosquash (Non-Interactive)

Create fixup commit for content changes, then autosquash:

bash

git commit --fixup=<sha>
GIT_SEQUENCE_EDITOR=: git rebase -i --autosquash <sha>^

GIT_SEQUENCE_EDITOR=: accepts the default todo - use when todo is already correct.

Reword Commit Message

Change older commit's message (no content changes):

bash

GIT_SEQUENCE_EDITOR='sed -i "/^pick <sha>/a exec git commit --amend -m \"New message\""' git rebase -i <sha>^

For multiline messages, write to a file and use -F:

bash

cat > /tmp/commit-msg.txt <<'EOF'
Title

Body with proper formatting.
- bullet points
- work correctly
EOF
GIT_SEQUENCE_EDITOR='sed -i "/^pick <sha>/a exec git commit --amend -F /tmp/commit-msg.txt"' git rebase -i <sha>^

Note: Multiple -m flags create separate paragraphs with blank lines between them - avoid for formatted messages.

Squashing Commits

Squash last N commits:

bash

GIT_SEQUENCE_EDITOR="sed -i '2,\$s/^pick/squash/'" git rebase -i HEAD~N

Stacked Branches

Rebase entire stack with --update-refs:

bash

git rebase origin/main --update-refs
git push --force-with-lease origin branch-a branch-b branch-c

For conflict handling and advanced patterns, see references/rebase.md.