Build & submit taskBetaintermediate

Clean Up a Messy Branch

Turn a nine-commit branch full of wip, typo fixes, a debug line and an oops into three clean commits on top of the latest main, one per topic, with the files ending exactly as they were. Then update the pushed branch safely with --force-with-lease. A local self-check verifies the history and writes your submission for instant, rubric-based feedback.

40 min

Est. time

Outcomes

Rubric criteria

60%

Pass score

What you'll learn

Skills you'll have real reps in after shipping this.

Interactive rebase can reorder, combine and reword commits, so a history can tell the story of the work instead of the order it happened in.

Cleaning up history should never change the result: compare the final files before and after.

A rebased branch that was already pushed needs a force-push, and --force-with-lease is the safe one.

The scenario

Your branch opening-week adds three things for Bean There's opening week: an events page, a discount banner and longer opening hours. It took nine commits to get there: start, wip, a typo fix, a debug line added and later removed, an oops for the banner colour.

You pushed it for review, and since then Priya added a commit to main. Before anyone reads it, make the branch tell the story in three clean steps on top of the latest main.

Your role

You are the author tidying your own branch before review. Your deliverable is opening-week with exactly three commits on top of the latest main, one per topic, each with a clear first line, no trace of the debug line, the same final files as before, pushed with --force-with-lease, and short notes on how you did it and checked it.

Start the task to unlock the full brief

You'll get the step-by-step requirements, setup commands, the 5-criterion grading rubric, tips, and the ability to submit your solution for instant AI grading.

Free to start · submit when you're ready

Learning resources

git rebase documentation (interactive mode)

git-scm.com

Pro Git: Rewriting History

git-scm.com

git push documentation (--force-with-lease)

git-scm.com

Practise interactive rebase on a real messy branch

Every developer's branch looks like this before review: wip commits, typo fixes, a debug line added and removed, an oops. This kit gives you exactly that branch, already pushed, with main moved on underneath it. You rebase onto the latest main, reshape nine commits into three clean ones with interactive rebase, keep the final files byte for byte the same, and update the pushed branch safely with --force-with-lease. A local self-check verifies the history and the content and writes your submission only when everything genuinely passes. It is the Level 5 project in Preporato's Git course.

Frequently asked questions

Do I have to use interactive rebase?

No. Any approach that ends with three one-topic commits on the latest main and unchanged files passes, for example git reset --soft and three new commits. Interactive rebase is the tool the course teaches for it.

What if I lose track halfway through a rebase?

git rebase --abort puts the branch back as it was before you started. After a finished rebase, git reset --hard ORIG_HEAD undoes it, and bash setup.sh rebuilds the whole kit.

Why does the project need a force-push?

The messy branch was already pushed for review, and rebasing replaces its commits with new ones. The server's copy no longer matches, so you replace it, safely, with git push --force-with-lease.