oliverdavies.uk/content/node.c7ad84af-f5c8-4ff8-92cd-873528acc623.yml

uuid:
  - value: c7ad84af-f5c8-4ff8-92cd-873528acc623
langcode:
  - value: en
type:
  - target_id: daily_email
    target_type: node_type
    target_uuid: 8bde1f2f-eef9-4f2d-ae9c-96921f8193d7
revision_timestamp:
  - value: '2025-05-11T09:00:05+00:00'
revision_uid:
  - target_type: user
    target_uuid: b8966985-d4b2-42a7-a319-2e94ccfbb849
revision_log: {  }
status:
  - value: true
uid:
  - target_type: user
    target_uuid: b8966985-d4b2-42a7-a319-2e94ccfbb849
title:
  - value: 'Starting with a clean slate'
created:
  - value: '2024-11-14T00:00:00+00:00'
changed:
  - value: '2025-05-11T09:00:05+00:00'
promote:
  - value: false
sticky:
  - value: false
default_langcode:
  - value: true
revision_translation_affected:
  - value: true
path:
  - alias: /daily/2024/11/14/starting-with-a-clean-slate
    langcode: en
body:
  - value: |
      <p>Whenever you need to start a new task in a codebase, I think it's important to always try to start with a clean slate.</p>

      <p>This is having an empty staging area and no lingering or uncommitted changes from previous tasks.</p>

      <p>I do this to avoid having contaminated commits that contain multiple changes. Each commit should be related to one change.</p>

      <p>You can use <code>git add -p</code> to <a href="/daily/2024/10/25/always-review-your-changes">review, stage and commit parts of your changes</a>, but as the uncommitted changes grow, you're less likely to do that and more likely to commit them at once with a generic commit message that offers no value when viewed in the commit log.</p>

      <p>You're more likely to create better and more valuable commits and write better commit messages if you break them into chunks and commit the changes as you make them.</p>

      <p>If you have extra files you don't want to commit, add them to a <code>.gitignore</code> file or <code>.git/info/exclude</code> so they're ignored.</p>

      <p>If you have uncommitted changes that you want to hide for now but re-add later, <a href="/daily/2024/10/24/git-stash-is-underrated">git stash is your friend</a>.</p>

      <p>If you want your changes to be completely separate, maybe <a href="/daily/2022/08/12/git-worktrees-docker-compose">git worktrees are for you</a>.</p>

              
    format: full_html
    processed: |
      <p>Whenever you need to start a new task in a codebase, I think it's important to always try to start with a clean slate.</p>

      <p>This is having an empty staging area and no lingering or uncommitted changes from previous tasks.</p>

      <p>I do this to avoid having contaminated commits that contain multiple changes. Each commit should be related to one change.</p>

      <p>You can use <code>git add -p</code> to <a href="/daily/2024/10/25/always-review-your-changes">review, stage and commit parts of your changes</a>, but as the uncommitted changes grow, you're less likely to do that and more likely to commit them at once with a generic commit message that offers no value when viewed in the commit log.</p>

      <p>You're more likely to create better and more valuable commits and write better commit messages if you break them into chunks and commit the changes as you make them.</p>

      <p>If you have extra files you don't want to commit, add them to a <code>.gitignore</code> file or <code>.git/info/exclude</code> so they're ignored.</p>

      <p>If you have uncommitted changes that you want to hide for now but re-add later, <a href="/daily/2024/10/24/git-stash-is-underrated">git stash is your friend</a>.</p>

      <p>If you want your changes to be completely separate, maybe <a href="/daily/2022/08/12/git-worktrees-docker-compose">git worktrees are for you</a>.</p>

              
    summary: null
field_daily_email_cta: {  }