5 Git Commands Every Tester Should Know

# See what changed
git status
 
# See detailed changes
git diff
 
# See changes in staged files
git diff --staged

# Add specific test files
git add tests/login.spec.js tests/checkout.spec.js
 
# Add all test files
git add tests/
 
# Commit with message
git commit -m "Add login and checkout tests"

# Create and switch to new branch
git checkout -b feature/payment-tests
 
# Push branch to remote
git push -u origin feature/payment-tests

# Show last 5 commits
git log --oneline -5
 
# Show changes in specific commit
git show abc123
 
# Show all changes to specific file
git log -p tests/api.spec.js

# Undo last commit (keep changes)
git reset --soft HEAD~1
 
# Discard changes to specific file
git checkout -- tests/broken.spec.js
 
# Revert a commit (creates new commit)
git revert abc123

[alias]
  st = status
  co = checkout
  br = branch
  cm = commit -m
  lg = log --oneline --graph --decorate
  test-diff = diff --name-only '*.spec.js' '*.test.js'

# Test artifacts
coverage/
test-results/
screenshots/
videos/
.playwright/
 
# Environment
.env.local
.env.test
 
# Dependencies
node_modules/

# See only test file changes
git diff --name-only | grep -E '\.(spec|test)\.(js|ts)$'
 
# Count test changes
git diff --stat tests/