Understanding the "Your branch is ahead of 'origin/main' by 1 commit" message in Git

Understanding what the Git message "Your branch is ahead of 'origin/main' by 1 commit." means and how to address it is important for keeping your branches in sync with the rest of your project. This guide will explain this message in detail, covering its implications and the steps you can take to resolve it.

What does the message mean?

The message "Your branch is ahead of 'origin/main' by 1 commit" indicates that your local branch has one commit that has not yet been pushed to the remote repository (referred to as 'origin').

• Local branch: This is the branch on your local machine where you make your changes.
• Remote branch ('origin/main'): This is the branch in the remote repository (e.g., on GitHub) that your local branch is tracking.
• Ahead by 1 commit: This means there is one commit in your local branch that is not present in the remote branch.

Why does this happen?

This situation occurs when you make a commit locally but do not push it to the remote repository. Here’s a typical workflow leading to this message:

1. You pull the latest changes from the remote repository:
   Terminal

   git pull origin main
   
   

2. You make changes and commit them locally:
   Terminal

   git commit -m "Add new feature"
   
   

3. Before pushing the commit, you check the status:
   Terminal

   git status
   
   

   This shows:
   Terminal

   On branch main
   Your branch is ahead of 'origin/main' by 1 commit.
     (use "git push" to publish your local commits)
   
   

How to resolve the message

There are several actions you can take to resolve this message, depending on what you want to achieve.

Pushing the commit to the remote repository

The most common solution is to push the commit to the remote repository. This synchronizes your local branch with the remote branch, incorporating your recent changes into the remote repository:

git push origin main

After running this command, your local branch and the remote branch will be synchronized, and the message will disappear.

Undoing the local commit

If you decide that the local commit should not be included, you can undo it. This action will remove the commit from your local branch.

1. Soft reset (keeps changes staged):

   Terminal

   git reset --soft HEAD~1
   
   

   This resets the branch to the previous commit but keeps your changes staged.

2. Mixed reset (keeps changes but unstaged):

   Terminal

   git reset HEAD~1
   
   

   This resets the branch to the previous commit and unstages the changes.

3. Hard reset (discards changes):

   Terminal

   git reset --hard HEAD~1
   
   

   This resets the branch to the previous commit and discards all changes.

Comparing with the remote branch

Before deciding whether to push or undo the commit, you may want to review the differences between your local branch and the remote branch:

git diff origin/main

This command shows the changes between your local branch and the remote branch, helping you decide the best course of action.

The message "Your branch is ahead of 'origin/main' by 1 commit" in Git indicates that you have local changes not yet pushed to the remote repository. If after following these steps you are still seeing this message, see the official Git documentation.