1. COMMANDS Safe assumption: Your last commit is the current HEAD, it has not been pushed, and you want to keep both the changes and the staging state. Bash git status Bash git reset --soft HEAD~1 2. WHAT EACH DOES git status — Confirms you're on the expected branch and shows your current working tree before making any changes. git reset --soft HEAD~1 — Removes the last commit while keeping all its changes staged (ready to recommit). No file contents are lost. 3. WATCH OUT git reset changes your local branch history. In this case, that's safe because you said the commit has not been pushed. --soft does not discard any work. Your files stay exactly as they were in the last commit, and they remain staged. Double-check git status first to make sure you don't have unrelated uncommitted changes that you might confuse with the restored commit. If you had already pushed this commit, you should not use this approach without understanding the implications, since rewriting shared history can disrupt collaborators. 4. UNDO If you decide you actually wanted the original commit back, you can restore it using the previous HEAD reference: Bash git reset --soft ORIG_HEAD If ORIG_HEAD is unavailable, you can find the previous commit in the reflog: Bash git reflog Then reset back to the commit you want (replace <commit> with the hash from the reflog): Bash git reset --soft <commit> 5. ALTERNATIVE If your goal is to keep the changes but unstage them so you can review or selectively stage files before recommitting, use: Bash git reset HEAD~1 This removes the last commit and keeps all changes in your working directory, but they will no longer be staged. This is also a safe, non-destructive option when the commit has not been pushed.