git stash

Tucks dirty changes onto a stack so you can switch branches.

🎯 What & why

Park your in-progress changes onto a small stack so you can switch contexts cleanly. Stashing creates a stash-commit with parents pointing to your current HEAD and (if -u) the untracked tree.

🧠 Mental model

A stash is a real commit (or two) tucked into refs/stash. The stack is a reflog of refs/stash. git stash list shows entries; git stash pop removes the top and applies it; git stash apply keeps it.

🛠️ Synopsis

git stash list [<log-options>]
git stash show [-u | --include-untracked | --only-untracked] [<diff-options>] [<stash>]
git stash drop [-q | --quiet] [<stash>]
git stash ( pop | apply ) [--index] [-q | --quiet] [<stash>]
git stash branch <branchname> [<stash>]
git stash [push [-p | --patch] [-S | --staged] [-k | --[no-]keep-index] [-q | --quiet]
          [-u | --include-untracked] [-a | --all] [(-m | --message) <message>]
          [--pathspec-from-file=<file> [--pathspec-file-nul]]
          [--] [<pathspec>...]]
git stash clear
git stash create [<message>]

🎚️ Switches & options

Flag	What it does
`push -m "<msg>"`	Stash with a message.
`-u, --include-untracked`	Also stash untracked files.
`-a, --all`	Stash even ignored files.
`--keep-index, -k`	Stash unstaged changes only; leave staged content intact.
`pop`	Apply top stash and drop it.
`apply [<stash>]`	Apply but don't drop. `<stash>` defaults to `stash@{0}`.
`drop <stash>`	Discard a specific stash.
`clear`	Wipe all stashes. ⚠️ No undo.

📦 Subcommands

push — Save current changes to a new stash entry; default if no subcommand given.

$ git stash push -u -m 'WIP: refactoring auth'

list — Show stashes with their messages.

$ git stash list
stash@{0}: On main: WIP: refactoring auth

show [<stash>] — Show the diff a stash holds; default top of stack.

$ git stash show -p stash@{0}

apply [<stash>] — Re-apply changes without dropping the stash.

$ git stash apply stash@{1}

pop [<stash>] — Apply the top stash and drop it on success.

$ git stash pop

drop [<stash>] — Discard a specific stash without applying.

$ git stash drop stash@{2}

branch <branch> [<stash>] — Create a branch starting at the stash's parent and apply.

$ git stash branch fix-login stash@{0}

clear — Wipe ALL stashes. Irreversible.

$ git stash clear   # ⚠️ no undo

💡 Use cases

Switching branches when the working tree isn't clean.
Pausing a refactor to do a quick fix on another branch.
Saving experimental changes without committing them.

🧪 Examples

Quick stash-pop dance.

$ git stash
$ git switch main
$ git pull
$ git switch -
$ git stash pop

Stash with a message and include untracked.

$ git stash push -u -m 'WIP: refactoring auth'

Apply a specific stash without dropping it.

$ git stash apply stash@{2}

Turn a stash into a branch (for proper review).

$ git stash branch stash-fix-login stash@{0}

🎓 Recommendations

Stash messages: push -m 'WIP <topic>' so git stash list is readable.
If you'd want to review the stash later, git stash branch is cleaner than apply.
Avoid keeping stashes around for weeks — they're easy to forget.

🪤 Common pitfalls

git stash without -u ignores untracked files. Lots of 'where did my new file go?' moments.
stash pop after a conflict: stash stays on the stack until you drop it manually.
stash clear is destructive. No reflog for individual entries after clearing.

🔗 Related modules

📝 Quiz

Hit each option, then Check answers. Score is recorded; Next is always open.