git stash: Save, List, Apply and Pop Work in Progress

git stash lets you put unfinished work aside, switch tasks and come back later without making messy commits. In this lesson you will save, inspect and restore stashes, handle untracked files and conflicts, and learn when a WIP commit is better.

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📦 What Is git stash?

You are halfway through a change when an urgent bug report arrives, or you need to pull, or switch branches, but your work is not ready to commit. git stash saves your uncommitted changes on a stack, cleans your working directory, and lets you bring the changes back later.

Think of it as a clipboard for unfinished work.

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▶️ Basic Usage

git status                 # modified: tests/login.spec.ts
git stash                  # save the changes and clean the working directory
git status                 # nothing to commit, working tree clean

# ...switch branch, pull, fix the urgent bug...

git stash pop              # bring the changes back and remove them from the stash

Saved working directory and index state WIP on main: 8b1d4e2 Add learning goals

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🏷️ Stash with a Message

With several stashes, messages tell them apart:

git stash push -m "WIP: login tests for locked-out user"

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📋 List, Inspect and Choose Stashes

git stash list

stash@{0}: On feature/login: WIP: login tests for locked-out user
stash@{1}: WIP on main: 8b1d4e2 Add learning goals

stash@{0} is always the most recent.

git stash show stash@{1}        # files changed in a stash
git stash show -p stash@{1}     # the full diff

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🔁 pop vs apply

Command	Restores changes	Removes the stash from the list
git stash pop	✅	✅ (only if it applied without conflicts)
git stash apply	✅	❌ Keeps it, so you can apply it again elsewhere

git stash apply stash@{1}       # apply a specific stash and keep it
git stash drop stash@{1}        # delete one stash
git stash clear                 # delete ALL stashes (cannot be undone)

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🧩 Untracked and Ignored Files

By default, git stash saves only tracked files (modified and staged). New files stay in the working directory.

Command	Also stashes
git stash -u (--include-untracked)	New, untracked files
git stash -a (--all)	Untracked and ignored files
git stash push -- tests/login.spec.ts	Only the listed file(s)
git stash push --staged	Only staged changes (Git 2.35 and newer)
git stash --keep-index	Stash, but leave staged changes in place

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🌿 Turn a Stash into a Branch

If the code changed a lot since you stashed and pop would conflict, create a branch from the commit where you stashed and apply it there:

git stash branch feature/login-wip stash@{0}

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🧯 Conflicts When Popping

If the stashed changes clash with changes made since, git stash pop reports conflicts like a merge. Resolve them as in Resolve Merge Conflicts, then git add the files. The stash is not dropped automatically when there were conflicts; drop it yourself once you are happy: git stash drop.

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🧪 Typical Situations

Situation	Commands
Pull when you have local edits	git stash, git pull, git stash pop
Urgent fix on another branch	git stash -u, git switch main, fix and commit, git switch -, git stash pop
Started work on the wrong branch	git stash, git switch correct-branch, git stash pop
Try an idea quickly and discard it	git stash to save current work, experiment, git restore ., git stash pop

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📝 Assignment

1. Modify two tracked files, stash them, confirm a clean git status, and restore them with pop.
2. Create three stashes with messages and list them.
3. Inspect the second stash with git stash show -p, apply it with apply, and drop it.
4. Create a new untracked file and show that git stash ignores it but git stash -u saves it.
5. Simulate “started on the wrong branch”: edit on main, stash, switch to a new branch, pop.
6. Bonus: create a conflict when popping a stash and resolve it.

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❓ FAQ

🤔 What does git stash do?

It saves your uncommitted changes in a temporary stack and restores a clean working directory, so you can switch tasks and reapply the changes later.

🤔 What is the difference between git stash pop and git stash apply?

Both restore the changes. pop also removes the stash from the list; apply keeps it.

🤔 How do I stash untracked files?

Use git stash -u (or --include-untracked).

🤔 How do I name a stash?

git stash push -m "your message".

🤔 Can I recover a dropped stash?

Sometimes. Dropped stashes become unreachable commits; git fsck --unreachable can list them while they still exist. It is much easier not to drop stashes you might need.

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🎯 Next Steps

• 🍒 git cherry-pick: Copy Commits Between Branches
• 🏷️ Git Tags and Versioning
• 📘 Git and GitHub Tutorial: full course