We’ve all been there: You’re in the zone, creating something amazing with the help of AI. Your code is evolving beautifully, and you’re regularly committing changes to GitHub. Everything seems perfect until suddenly, things start to go wrong. New commits make the situation worse, styles break unexpectedly, and before you know it, you’re staring at that dreaded error message.
Don’t panic! In this guide, I’ll show you how to revert to your last good commit using just GitHub’s web interface – no command line required.
The Scenario: When Good Code Goes Bad
Picture this: You’re working on a project, making steady progress, and committing your changes to GitHub. Each commit represents a step forward until suddenly, things start to deteriorate. Despite your best efforts to fix the issues, each new commit seems to make things worse. It’s a frustrating situation, but there’s a solution.
The Solution: A Step-by-Step Guide
1. Back Up Your Current State
Before making any changes, it’s crucial to back up your current state, even if it’s broken. Here’s how:
- Go to your GitHub repository
- Click the branch dropdown
- Select “Find or create a branch”
- Create a new branch named something like “main-backup-[date]”
This backup branch preserves all your commits, including the problematic ones, which you might want to reference later.
2. Find Your Last Good Commit
- Navigate to the “commits” section of your repository
- Scroll through your commit history
- Look for the last commit where everything worked correctly
- Click on that commit
- Select “Browse the repository at this point in the history”
Pro tip: This is why writing clear, descriptive commit messages is so important!
3. Create a Revert Point
- From your last good commit, create a new branch (e.g., “revert-point”)
- This branch will be several commits behind your main branch – that’s okay!
4. Make the Revert Point Your New Main Branch
- Go to repository settings
- Change the default branch to your “revert-point” branch
- Delete the original main branch (don’t worry, you have your backup!)
- Rename “revert-point” to “main”
5. Sync Your Local Repository
If you’re using Visual Studio Code:
- Don’t click “Sync Changes” – this would push the bad commits back
- Install the GitLens extension
- Find the commit with the origin marker in GitLens
- Right-click and select “Reset Current Branch to Commit”
- Choose “Hard Reset”
Alternatively, you can delete your local repository and clone it fresh from GitHub.
Best Practices to Prevent Future Issues
- Commit Regularly: Make small, focused commits with clear messages
- Create Backups: Before making major changes, create a backup branch
- Test Before Committing: Verify your changes work before committing them
- Use Clear Commit Messages: Write descriptive messages that explain what changed and why
Need Professional Help?
Sometimes, you might find yourself stuck in an endless fixing loop. If that happens, my team at AI-DrivenCoder.com can help. We offer:
- Basic code assessments
- Consultation services
- Optimized GitHub workflow setup
- Deployment automation
- Ongoing support as needed
Conclusion
Having your code in a version control system like GitHub isn’t just about backup – it’s about having the confidence to experiment and the ability to recover when things go wrong. With this guide, you now have the tools to revert to a good state without touching the command line.
Remember: Regular commits and clear documentation are your best friends in software development. They make it much easier to identify and restore good commits when needed.
Happy coding!