Git Cheatsheet

AI-Assisted Programming for PhD Researchers

One page of the Git and uv commands you’ll actually use during the labs. Keep this open in a second window; you don’t need to memorize any of it.

Identity

Set this once per machine, before your first commit.

Command	What it does
git config --global user.name "Your Name"	Sets the name attached to your commits
git config --global user.email "you@example.com"	Sets the email attached to your commits

Everyday loop

The cycle you repeat constantly: check status, stage, commit.

Command	What it does
git init	Turns the current folder into a new Git repository
git clone URL	Copies a remote repository to your machine
git status	Shows what’s changed, staged, and untracked
git add <file>	Stages a file’s changes for the next commit
git add -p	Stages changes interactively, hunk by hunk
git commit -m "message"	Records the staged changes as a new commit

Looking around

Inspect history and changes without modifying anything.

Command	What it does
git log --oneline --graph	Compact, one-line-per-commit history with branch graph
git diff	Shows unstaged changes in the working directory
git diff --staged	Shows changes that are staged for the next commit
git show HEAD	Shows the full commit at HEAD (message + diff)

Undoing

Safe first, destructive last: these go roughly in order of risk.

Command	What it does
git restore <file>	Discards unstaged changes to a file, back to the last commit
git restore --staged <file>	Unstages a file, keeping the edits in your working directory
git reset --soft HEAD~1	Undoes the last commit but keeps its changes staged

Branches

Command	What it does
git switch -c <name>	Creates a new branch and switches to it
git switch <name>	Switches to an existing branch
git merge <name>	Merges <name> into the current branch
git branch -d <name>	Deletes a branch (only if it’s already merged)

Tags & checkpoints

Tags mark a specific commit, useful for “this is what I submit” or “this is the state before the lab.”

Command	What it does
git tag -a <tag> -m "message"	Creates an annotated tag on the current commit
git fetch --tags	Downloads tags from the remote that you don’t have locally
git checkout tags/<tag> -b <branch>	Checks out a tag into a new branch (tags themselves are detached)

Worktrees

A worktree lets you have two branches checked out at the same time, in separate folders, handy for running an AI agent on one branch while you keep working on another.

Command	What it does
git worktree add ../wt-branch <branch>	Checks out <branch> into a new sibling folder ../wt-branch
git worktree list	Lists all worktrees attached to this repository
git worktree remove <path>	Removes a worktree (the branch itself is untouched)

.gitignore patterns

List files and folders Git should never track: build artifacts, virtual environments, secrets. One pattern per line.

Pattern	Matches
__pycache__/	Any folder named __pycache__, anywhere in the repo
*.pyc	Any file ending in .pyc
.venv/	A local virtual environment folder
.env	A local environment/secrets file
data/raw/*.csv	CSVs directly under data/raw/ (but not subfolders)

Python / uv

uv manages Python and project dependencies for every lab. See the Setup page for installation.

Command	What it does
uv --version	Confirms uv is installed and prints its version
uv init --lib	Creates a new Python library project (with pyproject.toml)
uv add --dev <package>	Adds <package> as a development dependency
uv run <command>	Runs <command> inside the project’s managed environment
uv run pytest	Runs the test suite inside the project’s managed environment