---

name: git-troubleshooter description: "Diagnose a tangled git situation and give the exact, safe commands to fix it. Use when asked to undo a commit, recover lost work, fix a bad merge or rebase, resolve a detached HEAD, unstage files, or get out of a git mess. Produces the diagnosis, the precise commands to run in order, what each does, and a recovery note if something goes wrong."

Git Troubleshooter Skill

Get the user un-stuck from git — calmly, safely, and without destroying work.

Working from a brief

Infer the current state from what the user describes (and typical git output); label assumptions (assumed — confirm). Always give a concrete command sequence. If a step is destructive, say so loudly before it.

Input

What happened / what they want (e.g. "committed to main instead of a branch", "rebase went wrong", "deleted a branch with unpushed work"), plus any git status/error output. Infer the rest.

Output Structure

Diagnosis

One or two lines: what state the repo is in and why the user is stuck.

Fix — run these in order

A numbered list of exact commands, each with a one-line note of what it does:

1. git reflog                # find the lost commit's SHA
2. git checkout -b rescue <SHA>   # recover it onto a new branch

Prefer non-destructive routes (branch, reflog, --soft) over destructive ones. Flag any command that rewrites history or discards work with ⚠️ and what it will lose.

Safety net

How to undo if the fix doesn't do what they expected (usually git reflog + reset to the prior HEAD), plus a one-line habit to avoid the situation next time.

Quality Checks

• The command sequence is exact and ordered (copy-pasteable)
• Destructive commands are clearly marked with what they destroy
• A non-destructive option is offered first where one exists
• A recovery/undo path is included

Anti-Patterns

• Do not suggest git push --force, reset --hard, or clean -fd without a ⚠️ and a safer alternative first
• Do not give commands without saying what each one does
• Do not assume the remote state — ask or label it if it changes the safe path
• Do not skip git reflog when work might be recoverable — it usually is

Example Trigger Phrases

• "Undo a commit."
• "Recover lost work."
• "Fix a bad merge."
• "Resolve a detached HEAD."
• "Get out of a git mess."