We've all been there. It's late. You're tired. You run git push --force and realize — half a second too late — you're on main, not your feature branch.

Your heart drops. Your teammates' commits are gone. You open Stack Overflow in a panic.

That exact scenario happened to me (okay, it was a branch, not main — but the fear was real). After the third time digging through git reflog output at midnight, I built gitpanic — an interactive CLI that auto-detects git disasters and walks you through recovery.

The Problem: git reflog is Powerful but Hostile

git reflog is the right tool for the job. But let's be honest:

$ git reflog
a1b2c3d HEAD@{0}: checkout: moving from feature/login to main
e4f5g6h HEAD@{1}: commit: add login validation
i7j8k9l HEAD@{2}: commit: fix auth middleware
m0n1o2p HEAD@{3}: checkout: moving from main to feature/login

Cool. Now what? Which SHA do I use? What command fixes a deleted branch vs. a bad merge? Is git reset --hard safe here or am I about to make things worse?

Every developer knows this feeling. Stack Overflow's most upvoted git questions aren't about advanced workflows — they're all "how do I undo X":

• "How to undo last commit" — 16k+ upvotes
• "How to undo git push" — 5k+ upvotes
• "How to recover deleted branch" — 3k+ upvotes

The knowledge exists. The UX is the problem.

Enter gitpanic

gitpanic is a zero-config CLI that does three things:

1. Auto-detects what went wrong by analyzing your git state
2. Explains the problem in plain English with confidence levels
3. Guides you through recovery with risk-rated options and confirmation prompts

npx gitpanic

That's it. No arguments, no config files, no documentation to read while sweating.

How It Detects Disasters

gitpanic runs multiple "detectors" against your current repository state:

1. Reflog Analysis

It scans recent reflog entries looking for red flags:

• Recent force pushes (within the last hour)
• Branch deletions
• Sudden HEAD movements that suggest accidental operations

2. Working Tree State

• Uncommitted changes that might be about to get lost
• Detached HEAD state (happens more than you'd think)
• Merge conflicts left unresolved

3. Timing Heuristics

• Commits made less than 2 minutes ago → probably accidental
• Rapid branch switches → possibly confused about where you are

Each detector returns a finding with a confidence score. If confidence is high enough, it surfaces the issue.

Real-World Example: Recovering a Deleted Branch

Here's what happens when you accidentally delete a branch:

$ gitpanic
🔍 Analyzing your git state...

⚠️  Found 1 potential issue:

1. 🔴 Deleted Branch
   Branch "feature/login" was deleted 45 seconds ago.
   Confidence: 90%

Select an issue to fix [1-1]: 1

🔧 Recovery options for: Deleted Branch

1. ✅ Restore branch "feature/login"
   Recreate the branch from the deleted commit
   Risk: safe
   Steps:
   - git branch feature/login abc1234
   - git checkout feature/login

Select a recovery option [1-1]: 1
⚠️  Confirm: "Restore branch \"feature/login\""? This can be undone. [y/N]: y

🚀 Executing recovery...

✅ Recovery complete!

Notice the risk rating — safe. gitpanic never marks destructive operations as safe. You always know what you're getting into.

Recovery Options Are Tiered by Risk

Every disaster comes with multiple recovery strategies:

This matters because when you're panicking, you don't always make the best decisions. gitpanic shows you the safest option first and clearly marks dangerous ones.

The Dry Run Safety Net

Not sure what will happen? Use dry run mode:

gitpanic --dry-run

This shows you exactly what commands would run without executing anything. Perfect for learning or when you want to handle recovery manually but need guidance on the right commands.

Under the Hood: Building Disaster Detectors

Here's a simplified version of how the "accidental commit" detector works:

async function detectAccidentalCommit(repo: Repository): Promise<Finding | null> {
  const lastCommit = await repo.getHeadCommit();
  const commitAge = Date.now() - lastCommit.date().getTime();

  // If the last commit was made less than 2 minutes ago
  if (commitAge < 120_000) {
    return {
      type: 'accidental_commit',
      severity: 'low',
      confidence: 0.8,
      message: `You just committed "${lastCommit.message()}" ${secondsAgo}s ago.`,
      recoveries: [
        {
          name: 'Undo commit, keep changes staged',
          risk: 'safe',
          steps: ['git reset --soft HEAD~1']
        }
      ]
    };
  }

  return null;
}

The key insight: timing is the strongest signal. A commit made 10 seconds ago is very different from one made 10 hours ago. By combining timing with reflog patterns, you can surface the right problem at the right time.

What It Can Detect (So Far)

When NOT to Use gitpanic

Let's be honest — if you're a git wizard who lives in the reflog, this tool isn't for you. It's for:

• Developers who've been coding for 2 years and still Google "how to undo git commit"
• Junior devs who are afraid of git reset
• Anyone working late at night when judgment is impaired
• Teams that want a safer workflow for git operations

Get Started

# Install globally
npm install -g gitpanic

# Or use without installing
npx gitpanic

# Preview without making changes
gitpanic --dry-run

The goal isn't to replace git reflog — it's to make recovery accessible when you're in full panic mode. Because the worst time to learn git internals is when your production branch is hanging by a thread.

If you've ever panicked after a bad git operation, give gitpanic a try. And if you have ideas for new disaster detectors, PRs are welcome — there's a clean plugin architecture for adding new ones.