Git Cherry-Pick Saved My Messed-Up Branch — Here’s How You Can Too!

Introduction

A practical, real-world guide to understanding and applying Git cherry-pick with actual developer mistakes and fixes.

What is git cherry-pick?

git cherry-pick lets you selectively apply commits from one branch to another — like copying specific code changes without merging entire branches.

Now let’s understand a quick comparison cherry-pick vs merge vs rebase

TL;DR:

• Use cherry-pick for precision, specific commits only

• Use merge to combine full branch history

• Use rebase to clean history and avoid unnecessary merges

Why You Might Need cherry-pick

1. You committed on the wrong branch (happens more than we admit)

2. You need a bug fix from one branch to another

3. You want to copy only certain commits, not merge everything

4. You made changes, reverted them locally, but commits got mixed up

My Real-Time Scenario: How I Discovered cherry-pick

Let me share how I personally ran into this:

I made some changes in a branch (let's call it branch A) but accidentally reverted the commits locally, leaving them in the unstaged area. Later, I re-committed those changes — but this time, I was working on branch B, where I only wanted my latest changes, not the leftover ones from branch A.

I pushed the branch to GitHub, went to open the PR, and BOOM — I saw two commits:

• One commit with my intended change for branch B

• But another unintended commit sneakily came from branch A

Total mess, right? But no worries — I fixed this cleanly using git cherry-pick.

I removed the wrong commit from branch B, stayed on branch A, cherry-picked only the commit I actually needed onto branch B, and pushed it again. Clean history, problem solved.

Step-by-Step Practical Guide to git cherry-pick

1. View Commit History with git log

git log --oneline --graph --all

✅ This shows a simple, visual commit history across all branches.

Tip: If you're working on a shared repository with your team and didn't create your own branch yet, you can check history of a specific branch like:

git log <branch-name> --oneline --graph --all

Example:

git log main --oneline --graph --all

✅ Use this to find the commit hash (abc123) you want to cherry-pick.

✅ Copy that hash — you'll need it in the next step.

2. Switch to Your Target Branch

Before you apply the commit, make sure you're on the correct branch:

git status

This shows your current branch.

If unsure, list all branches:

git branch

Switch to your target branch:

git checkout <your-branch-name>

Example:

git checkout feature/login

3. Cherry-Pick the Commit

git cherry-pick <commit-hash>

✅ This applies only the specific commit to your current branch, without merging the entire source branch or bringing unrelated changes.

Example:

git cherry-pick abcd1234

If the commit applies cleanly, you're done. If there's a conflict, Git will pause and you resolve it manually.

Cherry-Pick Multiple Commits

One by one:

git cherry-pick <commit1> <commit2>

Range of commits:

git cherry-pick commitA^..commitB

Handling Conflicts During Cherry-Pick

Conflict? No stress. Git pauses:

CONFLICT (content): Merge conflict in file.js

Resolve it:

git add .
git cherry-pick --continue

Or abort:

git cherry-pick --abort

You can also follow this short youtube video if you want:

Final Thoughts

Mistakes happen — commits go to the wrong place, branches get mixed up.

git cherry-pick is the clean, targeted way to:

✅ Move specific commits

✅ Fix accidental commits

✅ Avoid messy merges

Once you try it practically, you’ll use it confidently — like I did when I accidentally messed up branches.

Thanks for reading guys…