Git Basics: Copying One Commit with Cherry-Pick

Cherry-pick applies the change from one existing commit to your current branch. It is useful when you need a specific fix without merging an entire branch.

Run these commands in Bash with Git 2.28 or newer installed. Start a fresh temporary repository for this article:

git_practice=$(mktemp -d) || exit
mkdir "$git_practice/repository"
cd "$git_practice/repository" || exit
git init -q -b main
git config user.name 'Practice User'
git config user.email 'practice@example.invalid'
git config commit.gpgsign false

The identity and signing settings apply only to this repository. Use your own identity in real projects. The temporary files remain afterward. Examples assume default Git settings; if a pager opens, press q to leave it.

Prepare a fix on another branch

printf 'port=8080
' > app.conf
git add app.conf
git commit -q -m 'Add application config'
git switch -q -c fix-port
printf 'port=9090
' > app.conf
git add app.conf
git commit -q -m 'Fix application port'
git switch -q main
printf 'Usage notes
' > README.txt
git add README.txt
git commit -q -m 'Add usage notes'
git log -1 --format=%s fix-port
cat app.conf

Fix application port
port=8080

main and fix-port now have different commits after their shared starting point. The fix exists only on fix-port.

Apply just the fix

Start with a clean working tree. git status --short should print nothing before the cherry-pick.

git status --short
git cherry-pick fix-port

Git prints a commit summary. Its commit ID varies. fix-port selects the tip commit of that branch, not every commit on the branch. In a real repository, inspect the intended commit with git show and use its ID.

cat app.conf
cat README.txt
git log -2 --format=%s

port=9090
Usage notes
Fix application port
Add usage notes

The fix is now on main, alongside its usage notes. Cherry-pick normally creates a new commit with a different ID because it has a different parent; it does not move or merge the source branch.

When a cherry-pick conflicts

Git stops so you can resolve the affected files. Read git status, edit the conflict markers, stage the resolved files with git add, then run git cherry-pick --continue. To abandon an in-progress cherry-pick instead, git cherry-pick --abort returns to the state before it began and discards conflict-resolution edits from that operation.

These recovery commands are alternatives for an interrupted operation; do not run them after the successful example above. A cherry-picked commit can also depend on earlier changes, so run the project’s tests even when Git reports no conflict.

References

git-cherry-pick manual

Acknowledgements

This post was created with assistance from AI.