Bits of .NET

🔀 Deleted ≠ Lost

You deleted a branch, or force-pushed over one, and realized seconds later it had unmerged work. Panic sets in — but Git almost never actually loses your commits. It just loses the pointer to them.

🐞 The Problem

git branch -D feature/important-work
# Deleted branch feature/important-work (was a1b2c3d).
# ...and you needed that.

🔍 Why This Is Recoverable (Cause & Effect)

Deleting a branch only removes the label pointing at a commit.
The commit object itself stays in Git's internal database until
garbage collection runs (which is infrequent, usually 30+ days by default).
=> The data still exists -- you just need to find its commit hash again.

🔢 Step 1 — Find the Lost Commit With reflog

git reflog
# a1b2c3d HEAD@{2}: commit: Add payment retry logic
# f4e5d6c HEAD@{3}: checkout: moving from main to feature/important-work
# ...
# reflog shows every place HEAD has pointed, including branches you deleted

🔢 Step 2 — Recreate the Branch From That Commit

git branch feature/important-work a1b2c3d
git checkout feature/important-work
# Your branch is back, exactly as it was before deletion

📌 Recovering From a Bad Force Push (Same Trick)

# You force-pushed and overwrote remote history
git reflog show origin/main
# Or, if you still have the old local reflog before the force push:
git reflog
# Find the commit hash BEFORE the bad force push, then:
git push origin a1b2c3d:main --force
# Restores the remote branch to its previous state

📌 If the Branch Was Deleted on GitHub/GitLab (Never Pulled Locally)

# GitHub keeps deleted branches recoverable via the "restore branch"
# button on the PR page for a limited time. If that's gone:
git fsck --no-reflogs --unreachable --lost-found
# Lists "dangling" commit objects still in the repo's object database

🛡️ Prevent This Going Forward

# Never force push without --force-with-lease -- it refuses to overwrite
# work you haven't seen yet, unlike plain --force:
git push --force-with-lease origin feature/important-work