Git Interactive Rebase: Clean Up Your Commit History

Why Clean History Matters

A series of "WIP", "fix", and "oops" commits tells no story. Interactive rebase lets you reshape commits into a logical narrative before sharing them.

Starting an Interactive Rebase

git rebase -i HEAD~5

# Opens an editor with the last 5 commits

The Rebase Todo List

You see a list of commits and commands:

pick abc1234 Add login form

pick def5678 Fix login validation

pick ghi9012 Oops forgot to import

pick jkl3456 Add dashboard

pick mno7890 Fix typo in dashboard

Available Commands

| Command | Effect |

|---------|--------|

| `pick` | Keep the commit as-is |

| `reword` | Change the commit message |

| `edit` | Stop to amend the commit |

| `squash` | Combine with previous commit, merge messages |

| `fixup` | Combine with previous commit, discard message |

| `drop` | Remove the commit entirely |

Common Workflow: Squash Fixup Commits

pick abc1234 Add login form

squash def5678 Fix login validation

fixup ghi9012 Oops forgot to import

pick jkl3456 Add dashboard

fixup mno7890 Fix typo in dashboard

After rebase, you get two clean commits instead of five messy ones.

Resolving Conflicts During Rebase

If your reordered commits conflict, Git pauses the rebase:

# Resolve conflicts, then:

git add <file>

git rebase --continue

# Or skip the problematic commit:

git rebase --skip

# Or abort entirely:

git rebase --abort

Golden Rule of Rebase

**Never rebase commits that have been pushed to a shared branch.** Rebasing rewrites commit hashes. If someone else has based work on the old commits, their history diverges permanently.

Rewarding Clean History

Interactive rebase turns a messy timeline into a story. Your teammates and future self will thank you when running `git log` and `git bisect`.