amend

Git · Reference cheat sheet

📋 Overview

git commit --amend rewrites the latest commit (message and/or tree). Safe only for unpushed commits you own. After amend, the commit hash changes; pushed amends require a coordinated force-push.

🔧 Core concepts

• Message only — git commit --amend -m "…" or editor.
• Include staged — stage fixes, then --amend --no-edit.
• Author / date — --reset-author updates author metadata.
• Hooks — amend re-runs commit-msg / related hooks unless skipped.
• Recovery — old commit remains in reflog briefly.

💡 Examples

# Fix message
git commit --amend -m "fix: handle null session"

# Add forgotten file to last commit
git add src/missed.ts
git commit --amend --no-edit

# Edit message in editor
git commit --amend

# Reset author to current user
git commit --amend --reset-author --no-edit

# After amend of unpushed commit
git push

# If already pushed (team OK with force-with-lease)
git push --force-with-lease

⚠️ Pitfalls

• Amending published commits rewrites shared history — prefer a new commit.
• --no-verify skips hooks — avoid unless explicitly required.
• Empty amend (no changes, same message) may be rejected without --allow-empty.
• Merge commits / amend during rebase have extra rules — use rebase todo instead.
• Never amend someone else’s commit on a shared branch.

🔗 Related

• commit.md
• reset.md
• reflog.md
• squash.md
• push.md
• hooks.md