What This Covers

How to use git cherry-pick to apply a specific commit from one branch to another — without merging the whole branch.

Basic Usage

# Find the commit hash
git log --oneline

# Apply a specific commit to the current branch
git cherry-pick abc1234

Use git log --oneline to find the hash of the commit you want to bring over.

Cherry-pick Multiple Commits

# Pick multiple commits individually
git cherry-pick abc1234 def5678

# Pick a range of consecutive commits (excludes abc1234, includes ghi9012)
git cherry-pick abc1234..ghi9012

The range A..B excludes A and includes B.

Handling Conflicts

# When a conflict occurs
git cherry-pick abc1234
# CONFLICT (content): Merge conflict in app.js

# Fix the file, then continue
git add app.js
git cherry-pick --continue

# To cancel and go back
git cherry-pick --abort

Same flow as rebase: fix the conflict → git add → --continue.

Undoing a Cherry-pick

# Create a revert commit to undo the cherry-picked changes (if already pushed)
git revert abc1234

# Remove the cherry-pick commit entirely (only if not pushed yet)
git reset --hard HEAD~1

If you’ve already pushed, use git revert to create a safe undo commit instead of reset.

Key Points

  • git log --oneline is the quickest way to find commit hashes
  • The cherry-picked commit gets a new hash — it’s recorded as a new commit
  • The range A..B excludes A and includes B (same behavior as rebase)
  • Cherry-picking the same change twice often causes conflicts
  • For pushed commits, always use revert instead of reset
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