A Developer's Guide to Safe Git Rebase and Merge Workflows

By Kashmitha Madushan · Prepared 4 November 2026.

If Git shows a non-fast-forward rejection, your local branch is behind the remote branch, or the histories have diverged. Do not force-push until you unde
rstand what changed.

1. Check your current branch and changes

git status
git branch --show-current
git remote -v

If you have uncommitted work, commit it or stash it before rebasing. Read the actual branch names in your repository rather than copying main blindly.

2. Download the latest remote information

git fetch origin
git log --oneline --graph --decorate --all -15

Inspect commits to determine whether your local branch and the remote have diverged.

3. Rebase your commits onto the latest remote branch

git pull --rebase origin main

Replace main with your actual target branch. If conflicts occur, open and resolve the affected files, then run:

git add path/to/resolved-file
git rebase --continue

If you must stop the rebase, use git rebase --abort. Once you have checked the final result, push:

git push origin main

Merge instead of rebase?

Teams sometimes prefer merge commits. Follow your repository's branching policy rather than rewriting shared history. A force push can overwrite other people's work, so avoid it for this situation unless your team has explicitly approved a safe recovery process.

Before you finish

Run your tests, check the diff, and verify that the remote branch contains the intended changes. See the official git pull documentation.

Written by Kashmitha Madushan, Associate DevOps Engineer and full-stack developer. Software versions and tools can change; check the linked official documentation before applying steps to a production system.