Git Reflog: Recovering Lost Commits and History

In this tutorial, you'll learn about Git Reflog: Recovering Lost Commits and History. We cover key concepts, practical examples, and best practices.

The reflog is Git's local record of where HEAD and branch references have pointed, acting as a safety net for recovering lost commits and undoing mistakes.

In this tutorial, you'll learn Git reflog — the reference log that records every movement of Git's HEAD pointer. When you lose a commit (deleted branch, hard reset, rebase gone wrong), the reflog is your safety net. By the end, you'll confidently recover lost work and understand Git's internal reference tracking.

flowchart TD
  A[Mistake made] --> B{What happened?}
  B --> C[git reset --hard]
  B --> D[Deleted branch]
  B --> E[Rebase went wrong]
  C --> F[git reflog]
  D --> F
  E --> F
  F --> G[Find commit hash before mistake]
  G --> H[git reset --hard ]
  G --> I[git checkout -b branch ]
  H --> J[Restored!]
  I --> J

Viewing the Reflog

git reflog

Expected output:

a1b2c3d HEAD@{0}: reset: moving to HEAD~1
b2c3d4e HEAD@{1}: commit: Add payment feature
c3d4e5f HEAD@{2}: commit: Fix login bug
d4e5f6g HEAD@{3}: commit: Add login page
e5f6g7h HEAD@{4}: commit: Initial commit

Each entry shows: commit hash, reflog position, action, and description.

Recovering from a Hard Reset

You run git reset --hard HEAD~1 by mistake and lose your last commit:

git reflog
# Find the commit before the reset
# a1b2c3d HEAD@{1}: commit: The lost work

git reset --hard a1b2c3d

Restoring a Deleted Branch

git branch -D feature/login  # Oops, deleted the wrong branch
git reflog
# Look for the "branch: checkout" entry for your branch
# c3d4e5f HEAD@{2}: checkout: moving from feature/login to main

git checkout -b feature/login c3d4e5f

Undoing a Rebase Mistake

If a rebase produces wrong results:

git rebase main  # Something went wrong
git reflog
# BEFORE the rebase starts, you see:
# d4e5f6g HEAD@{1}: checkout: moving from feature to main

git reset --hard d4e5f6g  # Restore pre-rebase state

Reflog vs Log

Understanding Reflog Entries

Each reflog entry has a specific format:

<commit-hash> HEAD@{<index>}: <action>: <description>

Common actions include:

• commit: A new commit was made
• checkout: Moving between branches or commits
• reset: HEAD pointer was moved (reset or rebase)
• merge: A merge was performed
• rebase: A rebase started or finished
• cherry-pick: A commit was cherry-picked
• am: Patches applied via git am

The index number (HEAD@{0}, HEAD@{1}, etc.) represents recency — HEAD@{0} is the most recent action.

Time-Based Reflog Queries

You can reference reflog entries by time instead of index:

# What was HEAD 1 hour ago?
git show HEAD@{1.hour.ago}

# What was HEAD yesterday?
git show HEAD@{yesterday}

# What was HEAD last week?
git show HEAD@{1.week.ago}

Time formats: 5.minutes.ago, 2.hours.ago, 3.days.ago, 1.month.ago.

Reflog for All References

git reflog --all

This shows reflog entries for all references, not just HEAD.

Common Errors

Practice Questions

Challenge

Create a repository with five commits. Delete the latest commit with git reset --hard HEAD~1. Use reflog to recover it. Then create a branch, add two commits, delete the branch with git branch -D. Use reflog to recover both the branch and its commits. Document each reflog command used.

Real-World Task

In a shared repository, a teammate accidentally force-pushed a rebased branch, losing three commits from another developer. Use git reflog on the local clone of the developer who lost commits to find the commit hashes. Recover them by creating new branches at those hashes. Cherry-pick the recovered commits onto the current branch. Push and notify the team. This recovery scenario is part of incident response at DodaTech for Durga Antivirus Pro's development.

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