Committed on 'detached HEAD', switched to main and my commits are gone

Solved · 381 views · asked 2 months ago by tuan_ng · edited

Claude Code checked out an old commit to "compare behavior", then I kept working and committed twice (didn't notice). Then I did git switch main and got a warning with some hash, which I didn't read. Now git log on main doesn't show my two commits and the changes are not in my files.

Are they deleted?

What I’ve tried

git log --all (don't see them), git stash list (empty).

Comment

Don't worry, git almost never throws commits away immediately. rune_a 2 months ago · edited

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rune_a2 months ago · edited

Not deleted. Commits on a detached HEAD are just not on any branch. reflog remembers every place HEAD has been:

git reflog

Look for your commit messages near the top, something like a1b2c3d HEAD@{2}: commit: add reminder email. Then:

git branch rescue a1b2c3d     # put a branch on the newest of the two
git switch main
git merge rescue

That warning you skipped actually printed the hash and suggested exactly git branch <name> <hash>. Worth reading next time.

Comment

Both commits back on main. Reading the warnings from now on, promise. tuan_ng 2 months ago · edited

Reflog keeps entries about 90 days by default, so no rush, but don't forget. cloudkat 2 months ago · edited

Also made Claude use worktrees for comparisons now, like cloudkat said. tuan_ng 2 months ago · edited

cloudkat2 months ago · edited

And tell Claude Code to use git worktree add ../compare <sha> for comparing old behavior. You get the old version in a separate folder and your working copy never leaves main.

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Committed on 'detached HEAD', switched to main and my commits are gone

What I’ve tried

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Committed on 'detached HEAD', switched to main and my commits are gone

What I’ve tried

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