til/git/transition-a-branch-from-one-base-to-another.md

Transition A Branch From One Base To Another

Let's say I'm working in a git workflow where we have main as our production branch and dev as our development branch. I've opened a feature branch off of main and made a series of commits. It is at that point that I realize I should instead be branched off dev. I could open up a new branch off dev and then cherry-pick those commits. That is messier and more steps than necessary.

Instead, I can transition the feature branch I'm already working from to a different base.

The git-rebase command supports this with the --onto flag.

$ git rebase --onto dev main my-feature-branch

Specify the new base branch (dev), the current base (main), and then the name of the branch you are transitioning (my-feature-branch).

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