Interactive rebase editor (reword / squash / drop)

Git's git rebase -i drops you into a text file where one typo rewrites the wrong commit. Git Manager replaces that file with a plan editor in its own window: every commit of the range is a row, and the toolbar marks rows to be reworded, squashed together, or dropped. Nothing touches the repository until you confirm — the plan is just a plan, and Cancel throws it away.

Edit the plan, then rewrite history in one go

Open the editor from a commit and every commit from there to the branch tip becomes a row of the plan. Select a row to reword its message, or select several (⌘-click) to squash them into one commit — each edit shows as a badge on its row, and you can pile up as many as you need. When the plan reads right, one click on Start Rebasing replays the whole range; until then, nothing has happened to your repository.

Captured from the running app by this scenario.

Do this

1. Open the interactive rebase editor from the HEAD~2 commit
2. Select the rebase step chore: bump counter to 2
3. Reword the selected rebase step to chore: bump counter to two
4. Select the rebase step chore: bump counter to 3
5. Add the rebase step chore: bump counter to 4 to the selection
6. Squash the selected rebase steps keeping both messages
7. Start the interactive rebase

You should see

• The repository log lists the subject chore: bump counter to two
• The repository HEAD commit message contains chore: bump counter to 4
• The repository log holds 4 commits
• The working file counter.txt holds the line counter=4

Rewording a commit rewrites its message in history

Selecting a single row and typing a new message is the plainest edit the plan offers — the commit itself is untouched otherwise, at whatever position in the range it started at, only the message changes.

Captured from the running app by this scenario.

Do this

1. Open the interactive rebase editor from the HEAD~2 commit
2. Select the rebase step chore: bump counter to 3
3. Reword the selected rebase step to chore: bump counter to three
4. Start the interactive rebase

You should see

• The repository log lists the subject chore: bump counter to three
• The repository log does not list the subject chore: bump counter to 3
• The repository log holds 5 commits
• The working file counter.txt holds the line counter=4

Dropping the tip commit removes it from history

Marking a row as dropped removes that commit from history outright when the plan runs — the rest of the range replays exactly as if it had never existed, one less commit for a change that turned out not to be worth keeping.

Captured from the running app by this scenario.

Do this

1. Open the interactive rebase editor from the HEAD~1 commit
2. Select the rebase step chore: bump counter to 4
3. Mark the selected rebase step as dropped
4. Start the interactive rebase

You should see

• The repository HEAD commit subject contains chore: bump counter to 3
• The repository log holds 4 commits
• The working file counter.txt holds the line counter=3

Squashing the two newest commits combines them into one

⌘-clicking a second row adds it to the selection rather than replacing it, so squashing two (or more) commits is one selection and one click — the combined commit keeps both original messages rather than picking one and discarding the other's context.

Captured from the running app by this scenario.

Do this

1. Open the interactive rebase editor from the HEAD~1 commit
2. Select the rebase step chore: bump counter to 3
3. Add the rebase step chore: bump counter to 4 to the selection
4. Squash the selected rebase steps keeping both messages
5. Start the interactive rebase

You should see

• The repository HEAD commit subject contains chore: bump counter to 3
• The repository HEAD commit message contains chore: bump counter to 4
• The repository log holds 4 commits
• The working file counter.txt holds the line counter=4

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This page is generated from apps/e2e/features/interactive-rebase.feature, the end-to-end test that drives the feature it describes.