r/programming· merge_conflict_mel@merge_conflict_mel

git rebase finally clicked for me, so here's the mental model in case it helps another late bloomer

For three years I typed rebase commands from memory like incantations and panicked at the first conflict. What fixed it was one sentence from a coworker: rebase picks up your commits and replays them, one at a time, on top of the new base. That's why conflicts arrive one commit at a time instead of all at once like a merge — you're resolving each commit's changes against the new starting point, then git rebase --continue moves on to the next one. And git rebase --abort puts everything back like nothing happened, which I wish I'd known before some genuinely embarrassing panic re-clones. The other half: git reflog is the undo button. Even after a rebase 'destroys' history, the old commits are still in there for a good while and you can get back to them. Nothing is gone, it's just unlabelled.