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This is how I use git either working as part of a team or individually.

I use an amend/rebase mutable-history workflow where each idea is always represented by one commit. I never make checkpoint commits, and I only need to write git commit messages once per feature (and perhaps amend them), and I never merge. I have two git aliases:

• wip: (“work in progress”) git commit -a -m
• squish: git status && git commit -a --amend -c HEAD
• force: git push --force

To start a new change, I work in feature branches.

  $ git checkout develop
  $ git checkout -b newfeature
  $ vim somefile.js
  $ wip
  $ git force

To update a change, I amend it into HEAD.

  $ vim somefile.js
  $ squish
  $ git force

To start a new feature which depends on another feature, I branch off the branch. I do this rarely.

  $ git checkout newfeature
  $ git checkout -b newerfeature
  $ vim newfile.js
  $ wip
  $ git force

To pull in other users’ changes to a first-degree branch, I rebase. I do this often to keep my branch up to date.

  $ git rebase develop

To rebase an nth-degree branch, I cherry-pick. This is usually painless, while using rebase often is not.

  $ git checkout newerfeature
  $ git show # copy commit hash
  $ git reset --hard newfeature
  $ git cherry-pick <hash>

Alternatively, I’ll use rebase -i:

  $ git checkout newerfeature
  $ git rebase -i newfeature

In many cases, just deleting every commit from the interactive rebase except HEAD results in a clean rebase.

To push a change, I use git force. This should only be done on feature branches; never develop.