Git Team and Recovery Practice

Practise team Git with a local remote: push and pull, rejected pushes, rebasing, interactive clean-up, cherry-pick, tags, the reflog, bisect and hooks. Every solution has been run with Git and shows its real output.

Intermediate11 problemsUpdated November 5, 2026

Review first: Clone, Fetch and Pull, Pull Requests and Code Review, Rebasing, Interactive Rebase, Cherry-Pick, git reset and the Reflog, Finding Bugs with bisect and blame, Git Hooks, Tags and Releases

1.Push a new branch

Beginner

The setup creates a shared repository, origin.git, and a clone, me. Create a branch add-b, commit b.txt, push it with tracking, and print the branch's upstream.

Starter code

git init -q --bare -b main origin.git
git clone -q origin.git me 2>/dev/null
git clone -q origin.git mate 2>/dev/null
cd me
echo "start" > a.txt
git add .
git commit -q -m "Start"
git push -q -u origin main
git -C ../mate pull -q 2>/dev/null

Show hint

git push -u origin add-b, then git rev-parse --abbrev-ref @{upstream}.

Show solution

Terminal

git switch -q -c add-b
echo "b" > b.txt
git add .
git commit -q -m "Add b"
git push -q -u origin add-b
git rev-parse --abbrev-ref @{upstream}

Output

origin/add-b

2.Look before you pull

Intermediate

A teammate has pushed a commit from the mate folder. Fetch it, print how many commits you are behind and the new commit's message, then update your branch.

Starter code

git init -q --bare -b main origin.git
git clone -q origin.git me 2>/dev/null
git clone -q origin.git mate 2>/dev/null
cd me
echo "start" > a.txt
git add .
git commit -q -m "Start"
git push -q -u origin main
git -C ../mate pull -q 2>/dev/null
git -C ../mate commit -q --allow-empty -m "Mate: update docs"
git -C ../mate push -q

Show hint

git rev-list --count main..origin/main and git log --format=%s main..origin/main.

Show solution

Terminal

git fetch -q
git rev-list --count main..origin/main
git log --format=%s main..origin/main
git pull -q
git log --format=%s -n 1

Output

1
Mate: update docs
Mate: update docs

3.Fix a rejected push

Intermediate

You and a teammate have both committed, and your teammate pushed first. Get their work with a rebase, push yours, and print the history messages.

Starter code

git init -q --bare -b main origin.git
git clone -q origin.git me 2>/dev/null
git clone -q origin.git mate 2>/dev/null
cd me
echo "start" > a.txt
git add .
git commit -q -m "Start"
git push -q -u origin main
git -C ../mate pull -q 2>/dev/null
echo "mine" > mine.txt
git add .
git commit -q -m "My work"
echo "theirs" > ../mate/theirs.txt
git -C ../mate add .
git -C ../mate commit -q -m "Mate's work"
git -C ../mate push -q

Show hint

git pull --rebase replays your commit on top of theirs.

Show solution

Terminal

git pull -q --rebase
git push -q
git log --format=%s

Output

My work
Mate's work
Start

4.Rebase a feature branch

Intermediate

main has moved on since feature started. Rebase feature onto main, then print its history.

Starter code

git init -q demo
cd demo
echo "start" > a.txt
git add .
git commit -q -m "Start"
git switch -q -c feature
echo "work" > f.txt
git add .
git commit -q -m "Add feature"
git switch -q main
echo "more" > m.txt
git add .
git commit -q -m "Add more"

Show hint

Switch to feature first. You rebase the branch you are on.

Show solution

Terminal

git switch -q feature
git rebase -q main
git log --format=%s

Output

Add feature
Add more
Start

5.Squash two commits

Intermediate

Combine the last two commits into one with the message Second and third, without using an editor, then print the messages and a.txt.

Starter code

git init -q demo
cd demo
echo "one" > a.txt
git add .
git commit -q -m "First"
echo "two" >> a.txt
git commit -q -am "Second"
echo "three" >> a.txt
git commit -q -am "Third"

Show hint

git reset --soft HEAD~2 keeps the changes staged.

Show solution

Terminal

git reset -q --soft HEAD~2
git commit -q -m "Second and third"
git log --format=%s
cat a.txt

Output

Second and third
First
one
two
three

6.Cherry-pick one fix

Intermediate

Copy only the last commit on feature (Add y) to main, then list the files.

Starter code

git init -q demo
cd demo
echo "start" > a.txt
git add .
git commit -q -m "Start"
git switch -q -c feature
echo "x" > x.txt
git add .
git commit -q -m "Add x"
echo "y" > y.txt
git add .
git commit -q -m "Add y"
git switch -q main

Show hint

git cherry-pick feature copies the commit at the tip of feature.

Show solution

Terminal

git cherry-pick feature > /dev/null
ls
git log --format=%s

Output

a.txt
y.txt
Add y
Start

7.Recover from reset --hard

Intermediate

Someone ran git reset --hard HEAD~2, and two commits have vanished. Bring them back and print the messages.

Starter code

git init -q demo
cd demo
echo "one" > a.txt
git add .
git commit -q -m "First"
echo "two" >> a.txt
git commit -q -am "Second"
echo "three" >> a.txt
git commit -q -am "Third"
git reset -q --hard HEAD~2

Show hint

git reflog shows the old position. HEAD@{1} is where HEAD was before the last move.

Show solution

Terminal

git log --format=%s
git reset -q --hard HEAD@{1}
git log --format=%s

Output

First
Third
Second
First

8.Recover a deleted branch

Advanced

The branch experiment was deleted by mistake. Use the reflog to restore it, then print its latest commit message.

Starter code

git init -q demo
cd demo
echo "1" > a.txt
git add .
git commit -q -m "Start"
git switch -q -c experiment
echo "2" > b.txt
git add .
git commit -q -m "Try an idea"
git switch -q main
git branch -q -D experiment

Show hint

Before deleting it, the setup switched back to main, so HEAD@{1} is the last position on experiment.

Show solution

Terminal

git branch experiment HEAD@{1}
git log --format=%s -n 1 experiment

Output

Try an idea

9.Tag a release

Beginner

Create an annotated tag v1.0.0 on the latest commit and v0.9.0 on the commit before it. Print the tags, then print the tag message of v1.0.0.

Starter code

git init -q demo
cd demo
echo "one" > a.txt
git add .
git commit -q -m "First"
echo "two" >> a.txt
git commit -q -am "Second"
echo "three" >> a.txt
git commit -q -am "Third"

Show hint

git tag -a. git tag -n shows tag messages.

Show solution

Terminal

git tag -a v1.0.0 -m "First release"
git tag -a v0.9.0 HEAD~1 -m "Beta"
git tag
git tag -n v1.0.0

Output

v0.9.0
v1.0.0
v1.0.0          First release

10.Find the bad commit with bisect

Advanced

count.txt must never contain 0. Use git bisect run to find the first bad commit and print its message. The first commit is good, and the latest is bad.

Starter code

git init -q demo
cd demo
echo "1" > count.txt
git add .
git commit -q -m "Add count"
for n in 2 3; do echo "$n" >> count.txt; git commit -q -am "Add $n"; done
echo "0" >> count.txt
git commit -q -am "Add reset value"
for n in 5 6; do echo "$n" >> count.txt; git commit -q -am "Add $n"; done

Show hint

git bisect start HEAD <good>, then git bisect run with a command that fails on bad commits. git rev-list --max-parents=0 HEAD gives the first commit.

Show solution

Terminal

git bisect start HEAD $(git rev-list --max-parents=0 HEAD) > /dev/null
git bisect run sh -c "! grep -q 0 count.txt" > /dev/null
git log --format=%s -n 1 refs/bisect/bad
git bisect reset > /dev/null 2>&1

Output

Add reset value

11.Block debug code with a hook

Advanced

Write a pre-commit hook that rejects a commit adding the text console.log. Test it with app.js, and print the number of commits afterwards.

Starter code

git init -q demo
cd demo
echo "start" > a.txt
git add .
git commit -q -m "Start"

Show hint

git diff --cached shows the staged changes. exit 1 cancels the commit.

Show solution

Terminal

cat > .git/hooks/pre-commit <<'EOF'
#!/bin/sh
if git diff --cached | grep -q '^+.*console\.log'; then
  echo "Remove console.log before committing."
  exit 1
fi
EOF
chmod +x .git/hooks/pre-commit
echo "console.log('debug')" > app.js
git add app.js
git commit -m "Add app"
git rev-list --count HEAD

Output

Remove console.log before committing.
1

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