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Márcio Corrêa
Márcio Corrêa

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12 Advanced Git Features That Will Transform Your Workflow

#git #development

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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