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Squashing Commits

Squashing refers to combining multiple commits into one.
Squashing is a good way to clean up commit history, reduce noise in PRs, fixing commit mistakes, etc..

There is no actual git squash command.
You'd typically do this with git rebase -i or git merge --squash.

When to squash:

  • Working on a feature branch before merging to main.
  • To clean up commit history after experimenting.
  • When submitting changes for review.
    • Teams often require squashing before merging.
  • When a single commit makes more sense than multiple small commits.

Table of Contents

Squash Commits from the CLI

There are two main ways to do this.
You can either use an interactive rebase (git rebase -i HEAD~n), or squash during a merge (git merge --squash some-branch).

Using Interactive Rebase

git rebase -i HEAD~N  # where N is the number of commits to go back

E.g., to squash the last 3 commits: 

git rebase -i HEAD~3

This will open an interactive editor with a list of commits.

pick 1234567 First commit
pick 89abcde Second commit
pick fefc123 Third commit

To squash these, change pick to squash (or just s) for all but the first commit 

pick 1234567 First commit
squash 89abcde Second commit
squash fefc123 Third commit
After saving, Git will prompt you to edit the commit message. This is the commit message that all the squashed commits will be under.

Squash During a Merge

To merge a branch into main while squashing: 

git switch main
git merge --squash other-branch
git commit -m "Merged other-branch with a single commit"

Squashing Best Practices

  • Use before pushing (or be ready to force push).
  • Use when merging feature branches to keep history clean.
  • Don't squash commits in a shared branch unless it's necessary (it rewrites history).
  • Don't use git rebase -i if you're unsure. Backup or create a branch first.