Git, Explained Like You're a Human

You already use Git. You add, commit, push. And yet when something goes sideways, your stomach drops - because nobody ever told you what Git is actually doing. This guide fixes that.

By the end, branches, HEAD, staging, and merge conflicts won't be scary words - they'll make sense, because you'll understand the handful of simple ideas underneath all of them.

How to read this

• In a panic right now? Jump to Phase 3: When it breaks and use the cheat-card at the top.
• Want it to finally make sense? Read in order - each phase builds on the last.

The three phases

1. The Mental Model - what Git actually is. Five ideas that make everything else click.
2. The Everyday Commands - the commands you use daily, what each one really does, with real examples.
3. When It Breaks - the common "oh no" moments and how to fix them calmly.

Deep disaster recovery (recovering lost commits with the reflog, undoing already-pushed history, rescuing a botched rebase) is its own guide - coming next.