I was just working on this blog and realized I had to rollback to a few commits prior. I had to look it up, so thought I would document it here for posterity.

Rollback To X Commit

Type	Command	Danger Level	What Happens	History?	Working Directory Afterwards
(Dangerous) Hard reset	git reset --hard <hash>	⚠️ High	Moves branch pointer back, deletes all commits after <hash>	Commits after <hash> are erased	Matches <hash> exactly (no changes staged or unstaged)
(Dangerous, but keep changes staged) Soft reset	git reset --soft <hash>	⚠️ High	Moves branch pointer back, keeps changes from later commits staged in index	Commits after <hash> are erased	Later changes are staged (ready to recommit)
(Safe) Revert commits	git revert <hash>..HEAD	✅ Safe	Creates new commit(s) that undo changes after <hash>	All commits remain in history	Clean working directory (no unstaged changes)
(Safe, with unstaged changes) Revert without committing	git revert <hash>..HEAD --no-commit	✅ Safe	Prepares undo changes but doesn’t commit them	All commits remain in history	Later changes are unstaged (you must commit manually)

There are three more permutations of this chart though:

1. doing all 4 methods on just the last commit
2. doing all 4 methods on a single commit (not the last commit though)
3. doing all 4 methods on a range of commits (but the range ends before the last commit)

Other Rollback Scenarios

1. Rollback of just the last commit

Type	Command	Danger Level	What Happens	History?	Working Directory Afterwards
Hard reset	git reset --hard HEAD~1	⚠️ High	Deletes the last commit	Last commit erased	Matches state before last commit
Soft reset	git reset --soft HEAD~1	⚠️ High	Removes the last commit, but keeps its changes staged	Last commit erased	Last commit’s changes staged
Revert	git revert HEAD	✅ Safe	Creates a new commit that undoes the last commit	Last commit stays in history	Clean (no unstaged changes)
Revert without committing	git revert HEAD --no-commit	✅ Safe	Prepares undo of last commit but doesn’t commit	Last commit stays in history	Last commit’s changes unstaged

2. Rollback of a single commit that is not the last commit

Type	Command	Danger Level	What Happens	History?	Working Directory Afterwards
Hard reset	❌ Not practical (would erase all commits after the target)	⚠️ Very High	Would require rewriting history and deleting later commits	All commits after target erased	Matches that earlier commit
Soft reset	❌ Not practical (same issue as hard reset)	⚠️ Very High	Erases all commits after the target, changes staged	All commits after target erased	Those later changes staged
Revert	git revert <hash>	✅ Safe	Creates a new commit undoing just that one commit	Commit stays in history	Clean (no unstaged changes)
Revert without committing	git revert <hash> --no-commit	✅ Safe	Prepares undo of just that one commit, unstaged	Commit stays in history	Undo changes are unstaged

3. Rollback of a range of commits (ending before the last commit)

Type	Command	Danger Level	What Happens	History?	Working Directory Afterwards
Hard reset	❌ Not practical (would wipe all commits after the start of the range)	⚠️ Very High	Removes entire tail of history, including commits after the range	Later commits erased	Matches earlier commit before range
Soft reset	❌ Not practical (same issue)	⚠️ Very High	Removes entire tail, changes staged	Later commits erased	Those later changes staged
Revert	git revert <hash1>^..<hash2>	✅ Safe	Creates new commit(s) undoing all commits in the range	Commits stay in history	Clean (no unstaged changes)
Revert without committing	git revert <hash1>^..<hash2> --no-commit	✅ Safe	Prepares undo of all commits in the range	Commits stay in history	Undo changes are unstaged