How to Use git rebase for Cleaner Commit History and Its Differences from git merge

The author, a senior architect, introduces git rebase as a way to make commit history clearer, similar to git merge but rewriting history instead of creating merge commits.

Using a concrete example with a master branch and a feature/1 branch, the article shows the initial commits, subsequent changes on both branches, and visual diagrams of the commit graph before and after rebasing.

To apply the changes, the author runs git rebase master on the feature branch, then checks the log to see the linearized history. If conflicts arise during rebase, the workflow is to resolve them, stage the fixes with git add , and continue with git rebase --continue ; a failed rebase can be skipped using git rebase --skip .

The article then compares git merge and git rebase , noting that a non‑fast‑forward merge creates an extra merge commit, while rebase rewrites commits, which may require resolving conflicts repeatedly but results in a cleaner history.

Interactive rebase is introduced for squashing multiple noisy commits into a single clean commit. The command git rebase -i <base‑commit> opens an editor where the user can change pick to squash (or s ) for the desired commits, then save and edit the combined commit message.

A caution is given: interactive rebase should only be performed on private feature branches, never on shared integration branches, because rewriting history can disrupt collaborators.

After the technical tutorial, the article includes promotional material for a ChatGPT‑related community, offering paid memberships, free accounts, and additional resources, which is not part of the technical guidance.