TL;DR: Git rebase moves your commits onto a new base, creating a clean, linear history without merge commits. Use it on personal branches to stay updated or clean up commits before review.

What Is Git Rebase?

Git rebase is a command that moves or combines a sequence of commits from one branch onto a new base commit, rewriting the branch's history so it looks like it was built directly on top of the latest changes. It's one of two core Git tools for integrating changes between branches.

Merge preserves history as-is and adds a new commit to tie branches together; rebase replays your commits on top of another branch, producing a clean, linear history.

What Does Git Rebase Do?

When you rebase, Git doesn't move your existing commits. It creates brand-new commits with the same changes, applied one by one on top of the new base, and then points your branch at the last of these new commits. The content looks identical, but every commit underneath it has a new hash. This is what people mean when they say rebase rewrites history.

Here's the typical scenario. Say you branched feature off main a few days ago, and main has since moved forward with new commits from teammates:

A---B---C  feature

/

D---E---F---G    main

If you merge main into feature, Git adds a new merge commit that ties both histories together, forks and all:

A---B---C-------H  feature (merge commit)

/               /

D---E---F---G-------    main

If you rebase feature onto main instead, Git replays commits A, B, and C on top of G, as if you'd started your branch there in the first place:

D---E---F---G---A'---B'---C'   feature (rebased)

Notice A', B', and C'. These are new commits with the same changes but different hashes, sitting on a single, unbroken line: no merge commit, no fork in the history.

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Git Rebase vs. Git Merge

Both commands solve the same problem: integrating changes from one branch into another, but they do it in fundamentally different ways, and the right choice depends on what you value more: a complete, honest history, or a clean, linear one.

Difference

Git Rebase

Git Merge

What it does

Rewrites commits onto a new base

Creates a new commit joining two histories

Commit history

Linear; no forks, no merge commits

Preserves the true, branching history

Commit hashes

Changed (new commits are created)

Unchanged

Safe on shared/public branches?

No; never rebase commits others have based work on

Yes; always safe

Best for

Cleaning up a local feature branch before merging it in

Integrating a finished feature branch into main

Conflict resolution

Resolved one commit at a time, in order, possibly repeatedly

Resolved once, in a single merge commit

Also Read: Git Rebase vs Merge

Types of Git Rebase

Git rebase comes in two modes:

1. Standard (Basic) Rebase

Automatically takes every commit from your current branch and reapplies them, one after another, on top of the target branch, with no manual intervention unless there's a conflict. Use this to bring your feature branch up to date with the latest main.

2. Interactive Rebase

Opens an editor (the git-rebase-todo file) listing every commit about to be replayed, letting you reorder, edit, squash, or drop commits before they're applied. Use this to clean up commit history, squashing WIP and fix typo commits into one meaningful commit before a pull request, for example.

How to Use Git Rebase?

Standard rebase syntax:

git rebase <base-branch>

Interactive rebase syntax:

git rebase --interactive <base-branch>

# or shorthand:

A workflow looks like this:

git checkout feature

git fetch origin

git rebase origin/main

If Git hits a conflict, it pauses mid-rebase. Resolve the conflicting file(s), then:

git add <file>

git rebase --continue

Repeat until the rebase completes. If it's already been pushed once, you'll need to force-push the rewritten history:

git push --force-with-lease

Always prefer --force-with-lease over a plain --force. It aborts the push if the remote branch has changed since you last pulled, protecting a teammate's work from being silently overwritten.

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Git Rebase Commands

Command

What It Does

git rebase <base>

Performs a standard rebase onto <base>

git rebase --interactive <base>

Performs an interactive rebase, letting you edit the commit list

git rebase --continue

Continues the rebase after resolving a conflict

git rebase --skip

Skips the current commit entirely

git rebase --abort

Cancels the rebase and restores the branch to its pre-rebase state

git rebase --quit

Exits the rebase without resetting HEAD

git rebase --onto <newbase> <oldbase>

Advanced: moves a range of commits onto a different base

git status

Shows the current rebase status and any conflicted files

Git Pull Rebase

git pull fetches remote changes and merges them into your branch, which can create an unnecessary merge commit for a simple catch-up with the team pull. git pull --rebase fetches those same changes but replays your local commits on top of them instead, keeping history linear:

git pull --rebase origin main

If you want this to be the default behavior for a branch or the whole repository, set it once:

git config pull.rebase true          # this repo only

git config --global pull.rebase true # every repo

Git Rebase Branch

To rebase one branch onto another, for example, updating a feature branch with the latest main:

git checkout feature

git rebase main

To rebase onto a different upstream branch entirely (say, develop instead of main):

git checkout feature

git rebase develop

Git Rebase Abort, Skip, and Quit

Three options handle a rebase that's gone sideways, and they're not interchangeable:

  • git rebase --abort: fully undoes the rebase and resets your branch to exactly where it was before you started. Use this when things have gone wrong, and you just want out.
  • git rebase --skip: skips the commit currently causing a conflict, dropping it from the final history. Use this only when you're certain that commit's changes are no longer needed.
  • git rebase --quit: exits rebase mode without resetting your branch, leaving whatever partial changes have already been applied. This is a cleanup tool for recovering from a rebase that didn't exit properly, not a first choice.

Best Practices for Git Rebase

  • Only rebase local or personal branches.
  • Use interactive rebase to keep a dedicated feature branch's history clean before opening a pull request.
  • Rebase your feature branch onto main regularly, rather than letting it drift far out of date.
  • Always use --force-with-lease.
  • When in doubt, communicate with your team before rebasing anything that's already been pushed.

Drawbacks of Git Rebase

  • It rewrites commit history, which is risky on shared branches and can cause serious problems for collaborators.
  • Pull requests and code review tools can struggle to show incremental changes cleanly after a rebase, since the underlying commits are new.
  • Conflicts must be resolved one commit at a time, in order, which can mean resolving the same conflict repeatedly across several commits.
  • Squashing commits during an interactive rebase can obscure useful context about how a change actually evolved.
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Conclusion

Git rebase is one of the most useful commands for keeping a project history clean and linear. But its power comes from rewriting commits, which is exactly why it needs to be used deliberately. Stick to rebasing your own local or personal branches, reach for merge on anything shared, and use interactive rebase to tidy up a feature branch before it goes into review.

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FAQs

1. Is Git rebase dangerous?

Rebasing your own local or unshared commits is completely safe. It becomes risky only when you rebase and force-push a branch that other people have already pulled and built work on top of, since it rewrites commit history they depend on.

2. When should I use Git rebase instead of merge?

Use rebase to keep a personal feature branch up to date with main while you're still working on it, or to clean up messy commits with an interactive rebase before opening a pull request. Use merge instead whenever the branch is shared with others, or you're integrating a finished feature into main.

3. What is the difference between Git rebase and Git merge?

Rebase rewrites your commits onto a new base, producing a linear history with no merge commits. Merge creates a new commit that joins two branch histories together as they actually happened, preserving the original commit hashes and the true branching structure.

4. How do I undo or abort a Git rebase?

Run git rebase --abort while the rebase is in progress. This fully resets your branch to its state before the rebase started, discarding any partial progress. If the rebase already completed and was pushed, use git reflog to find the pre-rebase commit and reset back to it.

5. What is an interactive Git rebase used for?

Interactive rebase (git rebase -i) lets you reorder, edit, squash, or drop commits before they're reapplied. It's most commonly used to clean up a feature branch's commit history, combining small “WIP” or “fix” typo commits into one clear, meaningful commit before merging or opening a pull request.

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