How to Cancel Git Commits with Rebase: Step-by-Step Guide

Managing your Git commit history is a crucial skill for API developers, backend engineers, and technical leads. Whether you want to remove sensitive information, clean up messy commits, or simply undo a mistake, knowing how to cancel Git commits—especially using advanced tools like git rebase—gives you full control over your codebase.

In this guide, you’ll learn how to safely cancel Git commits using rebase, when to use alternative commands, and how modern API tools like Apidog can streamline your development workflow.

Why Clean Commit History Matters for API Teams

A clean, understandable Git history is vital for collaboration and troubleshooting. Poor commit hygiene can slow down code reviews and make onboarding new team members harder—especially in fast-paced API environments.

When you need to cancel or remove a Git commit, there are several ways to do it. This article focuses on using git rebase for advanced commit management, but also compares it to git reset and git revert for context.

Optimize Your API Workflow with Apidog

While mastering Git is essential for development, equally important is having the right API platform to streamline building, testing, and documenting APIs. Apidog offers an all-in-one solution—combining design, documentation, mocking, testing, and collaboration. Its intuitive interface and automatic synchronization features help API teams avoid tool-switching friction and keep projects moving forward.

As you optimize your Git workflow, consider how using tools like Apidog can further enhance your team's efficiency.

How Git Stores Commits: The Basics

Before diving into commit cancellation, it’s helpful to understand how Git commits work:

• Unique Hash: Every commit has a unique SHA-1 identifier.
• Parent Reference: Each commit points to its parent(s), forming a chain.
• Metadata: Commits store the author, timestamp, and commit message.
• Snapshot: The commit records the state of your files at that point.

When you cancel a commit, you're changing this chain—either by removing, modifying, or rearranging commits.

Choosing the Right Tool: Git Revert vs. Reset vs. Rebase

There are three main commands for undoing or canceling commits in Git. Here’s when to use each:

1. git revert

git revert HEAD

• What it does: Creates a new commit that reverses the changes from the specified commit.
• Use when: You want to keep your history intact and safely undo changes, especially on shared branches.

2. git reset

git reset --soft HEAD^

• What it does: Moves the branch pointer to an earlier commit. Use --soft to keep changes staged, or --hard to discard them.
• Use when: You want to remove recent commits from history and haven’t pushed them yet.

3. git rebase -i

git rebase -i HEAD~n

• What it does: Opens an interactive editor to let you delete, modify, reorder, or squash commits.
• Use when: You need fine-grained control over your commit history—ideal for cleaning up local feature branches before sharing.

How to Cancel Git Commits Using Interactive Rebase

Follow these steps to remove or edit commits using git rebase:

Step 1: Start an Interactive Rebase

Decide how many commits back you want to modify. For the last 3 commits:

git rebase -i HEAD~3

This opens a list in your editor, with the most recent commit at the bottom:

pick f2a9770 Add feature X
pick c69a283 Fix bug in feature X
pick 7c6b236 Update documentation

Step 2: Mark Commits to Remove

To cancel a commit, change pick to d (or drop) for the unwanted commit:

pick f2a9770 Add feature X
d c69a283 Fix bug in feature X
pick 7c6b236 Update documentation

Step 3: Save and Close

Save and exit your editor. Git will attempt to reapply the remaining commits as instructed.

Step 4: Resolve Conflicts (If Any)

If a conflict occurs, Git will pause and prompt you to resolve it:

# After fixing conflicts:
git add .
git rebase --continue

Repeat until the rebase completes.

Step 5: Force Push (If Needed)

If you've already pushed these commits to a remote repository, you must force push to update the branch:

git push --force-with-lease

Warning: Force pushing rewrites remote history. Only do this if you’re sure it won’t disrupt your team.

Advanced Interactive Rebase Techniques

Interactive rebase can do much more than removing commits:

Squash Multiple Commits

Combine commits for a cleaner history.

pick f2a9770 Add feature X
squash c69a283 Fix bug in feature X
pick 7c6b236 Update documentation

This merges "Fix bug" into "Add feature," letting you edit the combined commit message.

Reorder Commits

Simply rearrange lines:

pick 7c6b236 Update documentation
pick f2a9770 Add feature X

Edit a Commit

Pause the rebase to amend a specific commit:

pick f2a9770 Add feature X
edit c69a283 Fix bug in feature X
pick 7c6b236 Update documentation

Git will stop at the commit, letting you modify it before continuing.

Rebase Risks and Best Practices

Risks

• Irreversible Changes: Rebasing rewrites history—mistakes can be hard to recover.
• Force Push Required: Rebasing pushed commits requires force pushing.
• Commit Hashes Change: The original commits are replaced.
• Potential Conflicts: Large rebases may require resolving multiple conflicts.

Best Practices

• Create a Backup Branch

  git branch backup-before-rebase
  

• Only Rebase Unpushed or Personal Branches: Avoid rebasing shared branches.
• Use --force-with-lease: Safer than --force when pushing changes.
• Practice in a Test Repo: If new to rebasing, try it in a sandbox repository first.
• Rebase Only Your Own Work: Don’t rebase branches used by multiple developers.

When to Use Each Git Undo Method

• Use git revert when:

  • You need to undo changes but keep a transparent history.
  • Working on a shared branch (e.g., main or master).

• Use git reset when:

  • You want to remove recent commits and haven't pushed them.
  • Working locally on a feature branch.

• Use git rebase when:

  • You want to rewrite or clean up your commit history.
  • Preparing a feature branch for review or merging.
  • You're comfortable with advanced Git operations.

Rebase vs. Merge: Why Rebase is Powerful for Commit Management

• Merge: Combines branches and retains all history, leaving traces of every divergent commit.
• Rebase: Rewrites history for a linear, easy-to-follow commit chain—ideal for cleaning up before merging.

This power to rewrite history is why git rebase is preferred for canceling or cleaning up commits in private branches.

Conclusion

Learning to cancel Git commits using rebase gives you fine-grained control over your repository’s history, leading to cleaner, more maintainable projects. When paired with robust API tools like Apidog, you can further streamline your development and collaboration workflows.

Key takeaways:

• Use revert for safe, shared history.
• Use reset or rebase for local, personal branches.
• Always create a backup before rewriting history.
• Leverage integrated tools like Apidog to keep your development workflow efficient.

Practice these commands in a safe environment to build confidence before applying them to production code.