glossary

Git workflow glossary

Plain-language explanations of conventional commits, atomic commits, pre-commit hooks, and more Git workflow concepts.

Conventional CommitsA lightweight specification for commit message formatting that encodes change type, scope, and description in a structured, machine-readable way.
Atomic CommitsA commit that encapsulates exactly one logical change, making it independently understandable, revertable, and reviewable without affecting unrelated parts of the codebase.
Commit SplittingThe practice of dividing a working-tree change set into multiple discrete commits, each containing one logical unit of work.
Pre-commit HooksGit hooks that run automatically before a commit is recorded, allowing teams to enforce code quality checks, linting, or message format validation without manual steps.
Semantic VersioningA versioning scheme using a MAJOR.MINOR.PATCH number format where each component increments according to the nature of the changes: breaking changes, new features, and bug fixes respectively.
Git HooksShell scripts placed in a repository's .git/hooks directory that Git executes automatically at specific points in the version control workflow.
Conventional ChangelogAn automatically generated changelog derived from Conventional Commits history, categorising changes into sections like Features, Bug Fixes, and Breaking Changes per release.
Monorepo CommitsCommit practices adapted for repositories containing multiple packages or services, using scope to indicate which package or service a change belongs to.
Commit Message FormatThe structural rules that define how a git commit message should be organised, including its subject line, optional body, and optional footer sections.
Squash CommitsThe git operation of combining multiple commits into a single commit, typically used to clean up work-in-progress history before merging a feature branch.
Git RebaseA git operation that rewrites commit history by applying commits from one branch onto the tip of another, creating a linear history without merge commits.
Git Cherry-pickA git command that applies the changes introduced by one or more existing commits from any branch onto the current HEAD, creating a new commit with the same changes but a different hash.
Git Merge ConflictA situation where git cannot automatically reconcile two divergent changes to the same part of a file, requiring manual resolution by the developer.
Git StashA git feature that temporarily shelves uncommitted changes (both staged and unstaged) so you can work on something else, then reapply them later.
Git BisectA git command that uses binary search to find the specific commit that introduced a bug, by repeatedly halving the range of suspect commits.
Git ReflogA reference log that records every movement of HEAD in the local repository, providing a safety net to recover lost commits and undo history-altering operations.
Git WorktreeA git feature that allows multiple working directories, each checked out to a different branch, from a single repository, enabling parallel work without stashing or cloning.
Git FlowA branching model that defines a strict set of branch types (main, develop, feature, release, hotfix) and rules for how and when branches are created, merged, and deleted.
Trunk-Based DevelopmentA version control branching model where developers integrate small, frequent changes directly into a single shared main branch (trunk), with short-lived feature branches and minimal branching complexity.
GPG SigningA cryptographic method to sign git commits and tags with a GPG key, verifying the identity of the author and ensuring the commit content has not been tampered with.