Beyond git stash pop

Stash is more capable than the basic save/pop you usually see. Used well, it is a personal scratchpad for context switches that beats committing WIP into the branch.

Saving with intent

git stash push -m "WIP: parser refactor"
git stash push -m "config tweaks" -- src/config/
git stash push -k -m "without staged"      # keep staged
git stash push -u -m "include untracked"
git stash push -a -m "include ignored"

--keep-index stashes the working tree but leaves staged changes intact, useful when you want to verify a partial commit.

Listing and inspecting

git stash list
git stash show stash@{2}             # diffstat
git stash show -p stash@{2}          # full patch
git diff stash@{0}^1 stash@{0}       # diff against base

Apply, pop, branch

git stash apply              # apply, keep on stash
git stash pop                # apply, drop
git stash apply stash@{3}
git stash branch fix-bug stash@{1}    # branch off stash base, apply

git stash branch is the cleanest way to recover from "I stashed in the wrong branch."

Partial stash

Stash interactively, choosing hunks like git add -p:

git stash push -p

Conflict resolution

Pop applies via merge; conflicts mark the file unmerged in the index. The stash entry is preserved unless pop succeeds, so you can:

git stash apply           # try again with a different branch
git stash pop --index     # try restoring the original staging

Cleanup

git stash drop stash@{4}
git stash clear                # nuke all
git reflog show stash          # auditing

Use case: rebuild before review

You're mid-feature when CI tells you a CI-only fix is needed. Stash, switch branches, fix, push, pop:

git stash push -u -m "feature WIP"
git checkout main && git pull
git switch -c ci-fix
# fix + commit + push
git checkout feature
git stash pop

Common mistakes

Stashing with untracked files but no -u — those files stay in your tree and confuse subsequent operations. Treating stash as long-term storage; reflog expiry can prune unreachable stashes. Forgetting that pop can leave conflicts; check git status.

Related

See "Worktrees: multiple checkouts of one repo" for an alternative to stashing.