Chapter 56: Git Study Plan

Git Study Plan – 6 Weeks to “I’m confident in interviews & daily work”

Total time commitment ≈ 60–90 minutes / day, 5–6 days/week (Realistic for people who have jobs / college)

Core philosophy of this plan

• 70% hands-on typing in terminal
• 20% reading good documentation / watching short videos
• 10% explaining concepts out loud / writing notes / teaching imaginary friend
• Deliberate practice of painful scenarios (conflicts, resets, recovery)

Week 0 – Setup & First Mindset (2–4 days)

Goal: Remove fear, install good defaults, build confidence

Day 0 – Install & configure (30–60 min)

• Download Git → https://git-scm.com/downloads
• Windows → choose “Use Git from Git Bash and Command Prompt” during install
• macOS/Linux → already there or brew install git / sudo apt install git
• Set identity (appears on every commit)

• Modern defaults (2026 must-have)

• Create pretty log alias (you will use this 50 times a day)

Day 1 – First repo + muscle memory (60 min)

Create folder → git init → add file → commit → amend → reset –mixed → reflog recover

Repeat 5–8 times until you can do the whole cycle in < 90 seconds without looking notes.

Day 2 – Read these three short pages (must-read)

1. https://git-scm.com/book/en/v2/Getting-Started-Git-Basics
2. https://github.com/git-guides
3. https://ohmygit.org/ (play the game 2–3 levels)

Week 1 – Survival Kit (Daily 60–90 min)

Goal: Never feel lost when alone with Git

Topics & Exercises

1. status / diff / add / commit / log / show / restore
2. amend (message + forgot file)
3. reset soft/mixed/hard + HEAD~n
4. checkout / switch / restore (file vs branch)
5. stash push/pop/list/apply/drop
6. reflog (recover after reset –hard / bad rebase)

Daily drill (repeat 15–25 times)

• Make 3–5 changes
• Stage partially (git add -p)
• Commit → amend → forget file → amend again
• reset –mixed HEAD~1 → re-commit better
• reset –hard → panic → reflog → recover
• stash messy changes → switch branch → pop

End of week checkpoint Can you recover from git reset –hard HEAD~3 in under 60 seconds? If yes → move to week 2. If no → repeat 2 more days.

Week 2 – Branching & History (Daily 60–90 min)

Goal: Feel safe doing parallel work + clean history

Topics & Exercises

1. branch / switch / checkout -b
2. merge (fast-forward vs true merge commit)
3. merge conflict resolution (markers, add, commit)
4. rebase basic + conflict resolution
5. rebase vs merge — when to choose what
6. interactive rebase (-i): squash / fixup / reword / edit / drop
7. cherry-pick (single commit transplant)

Daily drill

• Create feature branch → 5 messy commits
• rebase -i → squash into 1–2 clean commits
• merge to main → delete branch
• Create conflict on purpose → resolve in VS Code
• Cherry-pick one commit from another branch

End of week checkpoint Can you clean 6 messy commits into 2 nice ones with rebase -i in < 4 minutes? Can you resolve a 3-file conflict without panic? If yes → week 3.

Week 3 – Remote + GitHub Reality (Daily 60–90 min)

Goal: Work with GitHub like a professional

Topics & Exercises

1. remote add / set-url / rename / remove
2. push / pull / fetch / fetch –prune
3. push -u (upstream tracking)
4. push –force-with-lease
5. origin + upstream pattern (fork workflow)
6. pull –rebase vs pull (merge)
7. Protected branches + required PR reviews (simulate on your repo)

Daily drill

• Fork any beginner-friendly repo (public-apis, freeCodeCamp, etc.)
• Clone your fork → add upstream → sync main
• Create feature branch → push → create PR → simulate review → merge
• Practice force-with-lease after rebase

End of week checkpoint You can do the full “fork → sync → branch → PR → merge” cycle in < 10 minutes.

Week 4 – Quality & Safety Layers (Daily 60–90 min)

Goal: Never commit garbage again

Topics & Exercises

1. .gitignore (global + per-repo + negation !)
2. .gitattributes (eol=lf/crlf, text/binary)
3. Git LFS (track large files, migrate existing)
4. pre-commit hooks (Husky / lefthook) – lint, test, secrets scan
5. commit-msg hook – Conventional Commits
6. Signed commits (GPG / SSH) – verified badge

Daily drill

• Create .gitignore for your stack (Node, Python, Java…)
• Add .gitattributes → test LF/CRLF behavior
• Set up Husky → pre-commit runs ESLint + Prettier + no-secrets
• Sign one commit → check green “Verified” on GitHub

Week 5–6 – Advanced Surgery & Recovery (Daily 45–90 min)

Goal: Fearless history rewriting

Topics & Exercises

1. reflog recovery (after reset / rebase / amend)
2. revert (safe undo for pushed commits)
3. reset (soft/mixed/hard) – local cleanup
4. rebase -i advanced (split commit, exec shell)
5. filter-repo / BFG (remove secrets / large files from history)
6. git bisect (find bug commit)
7. git worktree (multiple branches checked out)

Daily drill

• Intentionally break history 3 ways → recover with reflog every time
• Rebase -i to split one commit into two
• Use filter-repo to remove fake secret from history
• git bisect on a small repo to find “when bug started”

Week 7+ – Real-World Application & Contribution

Goal: Apply in real life

1. Contribute to 3–5 real open-source repos (typo → docs → small feature)
2. Set up GitHub Actions CI for your personal project
3. Simulate team workflow (PR reviews, merge conflicts, rebase before PR)
4. Teach Git to a friend / junior — explaining = deepest learning

Final Recommended Tools Stack (2026)

• Terminal + aliases (must)
• VS Code Git panel (very good built-in)
• GitHub Desktop / GitKraken / Fork (visual graph & conflict resolver)
• Husky / lefthook (hooks)
• git-filter-repo (history cleanup)
• git-lfs (large files)

7-Day Challenge Suggestion (if you want to start right now)

Day 1 – Setup + 20× basic commit cycle + amend Day 2 – Branch → merge → conflict resolution (3×) Day 3 – Rebase basic + rebase -i (squash 6 → 2 commits) Day 4 – Reset soft/mixed/hard → reflog recover (5×) Day 5 – Fork → upstream → sync → PR cycle (2×) Day 6 – .gitignore + .gitattributes + Husky pre-commit Day 7 – Cherry-pick + revert + bisect small exercise

Which day / phase do you want to start with right now? Or want me to give you a personalized 7-day plan based on what you feel weakest at?

Tell me — we’ll keep going until you feel completely confident. You’ve already come incredibly far — let’s make sure it sticks forever. 🚀