Git Reflog: Recover Deleted Branches and Lost Commits Like a Pro

You delete a branch. Two minutes later you realize it had three days of unpushed work on it.

Or you run git reset –hard on the wrong commit and watch your changes vanish.

Before you panic — there’s a command built exactly for this moment: git reflog.

This guide keeps things short and practical. No theory dump — just what git reflog does, the exact commands to run, and a simple diagram so the recovery flow clicks instantly.

Quick Cheat Sheet (Copy-Paste Fixes)

Short on time? Find your situation below and copy the fix. Details for each are further down the page.

What is git reflog?

git reflog is a log of every place your HEAD has pointed to — every commit, checkout, merge, rebase, and reset. So when a branch gets deleted or a commit disappears, git reflog usually still has the exact commit ID (SHA) you need to get it back.

Here’s the whole recovery flow in one picture:

The core idea behind git reflog: nothing you do in Git actually disappears the moment you delete or reset it. It just becomes unreachable — and git reflog holds the map back to it.

Basic git reflog Command

Run this inside any Git repository:

git reflog

You’ll see output like this:

a1b2c3d HEAD@{0}: commit: add payment validation

e4f5g6h HEAD@{1}: checkout: moving from main to feature/payments

i7j8k9l HEAD@{2}: reset: moving to HEAD~1

m1n2o3p HEAD@{3}: commit: initial payment logic

Each line is a snapshot of where HEAD pointed at that moment. The HEAD@{n} part is your ticket back in time.

Recovering a Deleted Branch with git reflog

Say you accidentally ran:

git branch -D feature/payments

Here’s the exact recovery process using git reflog:

• Run git reflog to list recent HEAD movements
• Find the last commit SHA that belonged to the deleted branch
• Recreate the branch at that commit

# Step 1: List the reflog

git reflog

# Step 2: Spot the commit from the deleted branch

a1b2c3d HEAD@{2}: commit: add payment validation

# Step 3: Recreate the branch

git branch feature/payments a1b2c3d

# Step 4: Switch back to it

git checkout feature/payments

That’s it — git reflog just rebuilt a branch that Git had already “deleted.”

Recovering Lost Commits After a Hard Reset

A classic accident:

git reset --hard HEAD~3

Those three commits look gone from git log, but git reflog still has them recorded.

git reflog

# find the entry just before the reset, e.g. HEAD@{1}

git reset --hard HEAD@{1}

This rewinds your branch back to exactly where it was before the reset — using git reflog as the source of truth.

Recovering After a Bad Force Push

A force push overwrites the remote branch, but your local git reflog still remembers the commit you had before you pushed:

git reflog

# locate the commit SHA before the force push

git checkout -b recovery-branch a1b2c3d

git push origin recovery-branch

You now have a safe branch with the pre-force-push history, ready to merge back in.

How Long Does git reflog Keep History?

By default, git reflog keeps reachable entries for 90 days and unreachable ones for 30 days. You can check the current settings with:

git config gc.reflogExpire

git config gc.reflogExpireUnreachable

This means git reflog is not a permanent backup — recover what you need before garbage collection runs.

Pro Tips for Using git reflog Like a Pro

• Run git reflog before any risky command (reset, rebase, filter-branch) so you know your current position
• Use git reflog show <branch> to see the history of one specific branch
• Combine git reflog with git fsck –lost-found for commits that lost every reference
• Always create a safety branch before experimenting: git branch backup-before-rebase
• Never run git gc –aggressive right after a mistake — it can prune reflog entries early

Common Mistakes to Avoid

• Panicking and running more destructive commands before checking git reflog
• Assuming a deleted branch is unrecoverable without even checking git reflog
• Waiting too long — reflog entries expire and get garbage collected
• Forgetting that git reflog is local only — it won’t help a teammate’s mistake on their machine

Frequently Asked Questions on git reflog

Can git reflog recover a deleted branch?

Yes. As long as the commit hasn’t been garbage collected, git reflog can locate the last SHA of a deleted branch so you can recreate it with git branch.

Does git reflog work after git gc?

Usually yes for reachable commits within the expiry window, but aggressive garbage collection can remove entries early, so recover important work quickly.

Is git reflog the same as git log?

No. git log shows commit history on the current branch. git reflog shows every movement of HEAD, including commits that are no longer part of any branch.

Can I use git reflog on a remote repository?

No, git reflog is a local-only log stored in your .git directory, not something shared through git push or git pull.

Read more: AI-Native Cloud Cost Explosion: FinOps for Agentic Workloads

Final Thoughts

A deleted branch or a lost commit feels like a disaster in the moment. It usually isn’t. git reflog turns most of these mistakes into a two-minute fix. Make it your first move whenever Git looks wrong — before you touch anything else.

About the Author

Eduonix Tutor

Editor

View All Posts