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Basic Git Workflow — Add, Commit, Push

Overview

Run the daily loop: edit → status → add → commit → log → push, with Conventional-style messages suitable for IaC and apps.

Staging lets you craft commits intentionally. Push publishes history to the remote for CI and teammates.

This is a core tutorial in Module 3 · Git Basics of the REBASH Academy Git for Cloud & DevOps Engineers series — written for Cloud, DevOps, Platform, and SRE engineers.

Prerequisites

Learning Objectives

By the end of this tutorial, you will be able to:

  • Read git status and git diff
  • Stage with git add
  • Commit with a clear message
  • View git log
  • Push to origin when a remote exists

Architecture

This topic’s control points and relationships are shown below.

Git workflow

Theory

What

The everyday Git loop is edit → stage → commit → push. git status shows what changed; git add selects content for the next snapshot; git commit records that snapshot; git log reviews history; git push publishes commits to a remote so CI and teammates can see them.

Why

Staging exists so a commit can be a coherent unit of work, not “everything dirty on disk”. In DevOps, a good commit might be one Terraform module change or one pipeline fix — small enough to review and revert. Pushing without committing leaves work trapped on one laptop; committing without reviewing status risks secrets and debug junk.

How it works

The working tree holds edits. git add copies file content into the index. git commit freezes the index as a new commit object on the current branch and advances the branch pointer. Messages should use an imperative summary (fix: pin terraform provider) with an optional body explaining why. After local commits exist, git push sends missing objects and updates the remote branch. First push of a branch often uses -u to set upstream tracking.

Command Role
status What changed
add Stage
commit Record snapshot
log History
push Publish to remote

Key concepts

  • Atomic commits beat giant “WIP” dumps for review and git bisect later
  • Upstream tracking lets bare git push / git pull know which remote branch to use
  • Hooks (pre-commit, commit-msg) may reject bad messages or secrets — fix the cause, do not bypass casually
  • Conventional prefixes (feat:, fix:, chore:) help changelogs and automation

Common pitfalls

  • git add . blindly — stage secrets, build artefacts, or unrelated files
  • Empty or joke commit messages that waste reviewers
  • Committing on the wrong branch then force-pushing to “fix” it
  • Pushing to main when policy requires a pull request

Hands-on Lab

Create a workspace for this tutorial.

mkdir -p ~/rebash-git/module-03/workflow && cd ~/rebash-git/module-03/workflow

Focus: practise status → add → commit → log

Step 1 – Edit, stage, commit

git init
git config user.name "REBASH Learner"
git config user.email "learner@rebash.local"
echo "service: api" > app.yaml
git add app.yaml
git commit -m "feat: add app.yaml skeleton"
echo "replicas: 2" >> app.yaml
git status
git diff
git add app.yaml
git commit -m "feat: set replicas to 2"
git log --oneline --decorate -n 5

Step 2 – Partial staging awareness

echo "debug: true" >> app.yaml
echo "notes" > NOTES.txt
git add NOTES.txt
git status
git restore --staged NOTES.txt
git checkout -- app.yaml
git status

Final step – Cleanup note

# Keep ~/rebash-git/ for later tutorials

Validation

  • Lab commands run under ~/rebash-git/module-03/workflow/
  • You can explain each Theory section in your own words
  • You used modern tooling where it applies to this topic
  • You can describe one production failure mode for this topic

Code Walkthrough

Production practice for Basic Git Workflow — Add, Commit, Push always combines:

  1. Inspect before you change (status, plan, logs, dry-run)
  2. Prefer reversible, documented changes (Git, IaC, drop-ins, version pins)
  3. Capture evidence (command output, pipeline logs) for handovers
  4. Prefer current tools and APIs over legacy shortcuts
  5. Least privilege — escalate credentials only when required

Keep runbooks short enough to follow under pressure. Automate checks; keep humans for judgement.

Security Considerations

  • Treat credentials and tokens for git as privileged — never commit them
  • Prefer short-lived auth (OIDC, roles, SSO) over long-lived keys
  • Validate blast radius before apply/deploy/delete operations
  • Restrict who can approve production changes
  • Collect audit logs; limit who can read sensitive traces

Common Mistakes

git add . blindly — stage secrets, build artefacts, or unrelated files

Validate assumptions against the Theory section and official docs before changing production.

Empty or joke commit messages that waste reviewers

Lab shortcuts (open security groups, admin roles, skip approvals) must not ship unchanged.

Changing production without a rollback path

Always know how to revert (previous artefact, prior release, state rollback, DNS failback).

Best Practices

  • Encode Basic Git Workflow — Add, Commit, Push changes as code and review them in pull requests
  • Pin versions (images, modules, actions, provider plugins)
  • Separate environments with clear promotion gates
  • Alert on symptoms with runbooks attached
  • Destroy lab resources; tag everything with owner and expiry where possible

Troubleshooting

Symptom Likely cause Fix
Auth / permission denied Wrong identity, policy, or scope Check caller identity, roles, and least-privilege policies
Timeout / no route Network, DNS, security group, or endpoint Trace path, DNS, and allow-lists before retrying
Drift / unexpected plan Manual change or wrong state/workspace Reconcile desired vs actual; avoid click-ops on managed resources
Pipeline/job red Flaky step, cache, or missing secret Read failing step logs; bisect recent workflow/config changes
Cost spike Idle load balancer, NAT, oversized compute Inventory billable resources; stop/delete labs promptly

Summary

Basic Git Workflow — Add, Commit, Push is essential for Cloud and DevOps engineers working with git. Practise the lab until the inspection and change path is muscle memory, then continue the track.

Interview Questions

  1. What does the staging area allow you to do?
  2. You committed the wrong file — how do you fix it safely before push?
  3. What makes a good commit message for IaC changes?
  4. Why review git status before every commit?
  5. When should you amend versus make a new commit?

Sample answer — question 2

If not pushed, restore --staged / soft reset can reshape the commit. If pushed and shared, prefer a follow-up commit.

Sample answer — question 4

Never amend commits that others have based work on. Keep secrets out with status/diff review.

References