Git interview questions every frontend developer should know

What is the difference between merge and rebase?

merge joins two branches with a merge commit and preserves history. rebase replays your commits on top of another branch for a linear history. Never rebase commits that others have already pulled.

What is the difference between reset and revert?

git reset moves the branch pointer and rewrites history. git revert creates a new commit that undoes a previous one, so it is safe on shared branches.

How do you undo your last commit but keep the changes?

git reset --soft HEAD~1

What does git stash do?

It shelves uncommitted changes so you can switch branches, and git stash pop brings them back.

How do you resolve a merge conflict?

Open the conflicted files, choose the correct code between the markers, git add the files, then continue the merge or rebase.

What is git cherry-pick?

It applies a single commit from another branch onto your current branch.

A normal feature workflow

git switch -c feature/login        # new branch
git add .
git commit -m "Add login form"
git fetch origin
git rebase origin/main             # replay your work on the latest main
git push -u origin feature/login   # then open a pull request

Clean up commits before a pull request

git rebase -i HEAD~3   # mark commits as squash or reword

Recover from mistakes

git restore file.ts          # discard local changes to a file
git reflog                   # find a "lost" commit
git reset --hard <commit>    # return to it (careful: discards changes)

Interview tip: explain reflog. It shows you know that Git rarely loses committed work.