Git Cherry Pick
Apply specific commits from one branch to another without merging the whole branch.
Cherry-pick lets you apply a specific commit from one branch onto another. You get just that commit — not the entire branch history.
When to use it
- A bug fix is on a feature branch but
mainneeds it now - You merged a branch but only want one of its commits on another branch
- A commit landed on the wrong branch — move it without rebasing everything
- Backporting a fix to an older release branch
What’s involved
Every commit has a hash. Cherry-pick takes that hash and replays the commit’s diff on your current branch as a new commit.
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git log --oneline feature/my-feature
# a3f2c1d Fix null pointer in cart
# b9e4a2c Add cart feature
# ...
You want just the fix on main:
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git checkout main
git cherry-pick a3f2c1d
Git creates a new commit on main with the same changes. The hash will be different — it’s a new commit.
Cherry-pick a range of commits
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git cherry-pick abc123..def456
This picks commits from abc123 (exclusive) up to def456 (inclusive).
To include abc123:
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git cherry-pick abc123^..def456
Cherry-pick without committing
Apply the changes to your working directory but don’t commit yet:
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git cherry-pick --no-commit a3f2c1d
Useful when you want to combine changes from multiple commits into one.
Conflicts
If the cherry-picked commit conflicts with your current branch:
- Git pauses and shows the conflict
- Resolve the conflict in the file
- Stage the resolved file:
git add <file> - Continue:
git cherry-pick --continue
Or bail out completely:
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git cherry-pick --abort
Deploy to remote
The typical workflow is to cherry-pick onto a new branch and push that for review:
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git checkout -b fix/cart-null-pointer
git cherry-pick a3f2c1d
git push -u origin fix/cart-null-pointer
Then open a PR from fix/cart-null-pointer into your target branch (main, develop, etc).
If you need to push to an existing remote branch you’ve already pushed before and the history has changed (e.g. after a rebase):
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git push --force-with-lease origin fix/cart-null-pointer
--force-with-lease is safer than --force — it aborts if someone else has pushed to the branch since you last fetched.
Cherry-pick vs merge vs rebase
| What it does | |
|---|---|
merge | Brings in all commits from a branch |
rebase | Replays all commits of a branch onto another |
cherry-pick | Picks specific commits only |
Use cherry-pick when you want surgical precision — one or a few commits, not the whole branch.