Yes, there are other ways to do this, e.g. via squashing and interactive rebase, but I think amending is the best way to get started. The Repeated Amend is a pattern where, instead of cluttering your history with lots of tiny commits, you build up a “good” commit gradually, by amending. This is absolutely fine and nothing to be ashamed of.īut one day you may start to care about the utility and aesthetics of your Git history. This can lead to an awful lot of tiny commits. When I’m doing something tricky, I often proceed towards my goal in small increments, checking that everything still works along the way. Use more commits when you’re in uncertain or dangerous territory R Packages, Hadley Wickham ( Wickham ( 2015))

Commits are also helpful to others, because they show your journey, not just the destination. Committing too frequently will slow your progress use more commits when you’re in uncertain or dangerous territory. Coding without commits is like free-climbing: you can travel much faster in the short-term, but in the long-term the chances of catastrophic failure are high! Like rock climbing protection, you want to be judicious in your use of commits. Commits play a similar role: if you make a mistake, you can’t fall past the previous commit. If you’re crossing a dangerous rock face you want to make sure you’ve used protection to catch you if you fall.

Using a Git commit is like using anchors and other protection when climbing.

Git undo commit message