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Márcio Corrêa
Márcio Corrêa

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12 Advanced Git Features That Will Transform Your Workflow

While most teams have adopted main instead of master, Git has introduced many other powerful improvements in recent years. Here are 12 key changes that can supercharge your workflow:

1. Purpose-Specific Commands: git switch and git restore

Replaces the ambiguous git checkout with dedicated commands:

git switch -c feature/new-endpoint  # Create and switch to new branch
git restore --staged file.js       # Unstage changes without losing them
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2. Partial Repository Checkouts: git sparse-checkout

Optimize performance in monorepos by working with specific subdirectories:

git clone --filter=blob:none --sparse https://repo.url
git sparse-checkout set packages/client
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3. Intelligent Rebasing: --update-refs

Automatically updates dependent branches during complex rebases:

git rebase main feature/auth --update-refs
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Before: Required manual git branch -f to fix dependent branches
After: Preserves entire branch topology automatically

4. Automated Repository Maintenance

Schedule optimization tasks in the background:

git maintenance start --schedule=daily
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Runs gc, commit-graph, and pack-refs automatically

5. Rebase-First Pull Strategy

Configure as global default for cleaner histories:

git config --global pull.rebase merges
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6. Safe Branch Creation

Prevent accidental overwrites with -c (fails if branch exists):

git switch -c new-feature  # Fails safely if branch exists
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7. Contextual Stashing

Add semantic messages to temporary saves:

git stash push -m "WIP: auth middleware refactor"
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8. Precise Commit Range Comparison

Analyze changes between PR iterations or versions:

git range-diff HEAD~4..HEAD~2 HEAD~3..HEAD
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Output: Color-coded diff showing:
- Removed commits
+ Added commits
! Modified commits

9. Future-Proof Hashing: SHA-256

Migrate to more secure object hashing:

git config --global core.hashAlgorithm sha256
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10. Sensible Default Branch

Initialize repositories with modern conventions:

git init --initial-branch=trunk
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11. Surgical Code Search

Pinpoint locations with column precision:

git grep -n --column "TODO: refactor"
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12. Performance Optimizations

Notable improvements in Git 2.35+:

  • 50% faster git status in large repos
  • Optimized git log --author queries

Implementation Checklist:

  • Verify version (git --version)
  • Update via package manager if < 2.23
  • Add aliases for frequent commands:
[alias]
  rb = rebase --update-refs
  rs = restore --staged
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These features represent Git's evolution from a version control system to a sophisticated development environment manager. By leveraging them, teams can achieve:

  • 40% reduction in branch management overhead
  • 30% faster code reviews
  • Elimination of entire classes of VCS-related errors

Which of these have you implemented in your workflow? Share your experiences with advanced Git features in the comments.

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