Recover a Deleted Git Branch with reflog

git reflog is git's local-only undo history. Every checkout, commit, reset, rebase, and branch deletion leaves a trace there. When you accidentally git branch -D feature/important and panic, reflog is the rescue. The commit isn't gone — git just orphaned it, and reflog tells you the SHA.

Tested on git 2.43+.

When to Use This

• You ran git branch -D on the wrong branch
• A git rebase went sideways and you want to get back to the pre-rebase state
• A git reset --hard wiped uncommitted commits
• You force-pushed and need to find the old commit

Don't use this when the changes were never committed (reflog only tracks committed state) or when you're on a different machine than where the work happened (reflog is per-clone).

Code

# Show every move HEAD has made (most recent first)
git reflog
 
# Filtered to just one branch's history
git reflog show feature/login
 
# With full commit messages
git reflog --pretty=format:'%h %gd %gs'

Sample output:

a1b2c3d HEAD@{0}: checkout: moving from feature/login to main
e4f5g6h HEAD@{1}: commit: feat: add login form validation
i7j8k9l HEAD@{2}: commit: feat: scaffold login form
m0n1o2p HEAD@{3}: checkout: moving from main to feature/login

HEAD@{N} is shorthand for "where HEAD was N moves ago". You can use these references in any git command.

Usage

The full recovery flow for an accidentally deleted branch:

# 1) You realize you deleted feature/login by mistake
$ git branch -D feature/login
Deleted branch feature/login (was e4f5g6h).
 
# 2) Look at reflog to find the last commit on that branch
$ git reflog
e4f5g6h HEAD@{1}: commit: feat: add login form validation
i7j8k9l HEAD@{2}: commit: feat: scaffold login form
 
# 3) Recreate the branch from the commit SHA
$ git branch feature/login e4f5g6h
 
# 4) Verify
$ git log feature/login --oneline
e4f5g6h feat: add login form validation
i7j8k9l feat: scaffold login form

You're back. The branch is restored with all its commits intact.

A second scenario: undo a botched interactive rebase.

# After a rebase you regret
$ git reflog
abcdef0 HEAD@{0}: rebase (finish): returning to refs/heads/feature/login
abcdef1 HEAD@{1}: rebase: feat: zod validation
abcdef2 HEAD@{2}: rebase (start): checkout HEAD~5
e4f5g6h HEAD@{3}: commit: feat: add login form validation   ← pre-rebase
 
# Reset to the pre-rebase state
$ git reset --hard HEAD@{3}

Pitfalls

• Reflog is local only. It lives in .git/logs/. If you cloned fresh after the disaster, the reflog of the original clone is gone with it.
• Reflog entries expire. Default expiry is 90 days for reachable commits and 30 days for unreachable ones. After that, git gc can prune them.
• HEAD@{1} versus HEAD~1 is a common confusion. HEAD~1 is "the parent of HEAD" (a commit before in the graph). HEAD@{1} is "HEAD's previous position" (a commit before in time on this machine).
• Reflog only tracks HEAD by default. For per-branch reflog, use git reflog show <branch>. Each branch has its own log.
• Don't rely on reflog as a backup. It's a local safety net for accidents, not a substitute for pushing to a remote.

Related Snippets & Reading

• Undo the Last Git Commit — for recent commits before they need rescuing
• Interactive Rebase to Squash Commits — the operation reflog often saves you from
• git reflog official docs — full reference