I Have 47 Git Stashes And I'm Afraid To Look

It started innocently. “I’ll just stash this real quick.” That was 47 stashes ago. Now my git stash list reads like an archaeological dig site.

The Excavation

$ git stash list
stash@{0}: WIP on main: fix thing
stash@{1}: WIP on main: actually fix thing
stash@{2}: WIP on feature: stuff
stash@{3}: WIP on main: idk
stash@{12}: On main: DO NOT POP - BREAKS EVERYTHING
stash@{23}: On feature: important maybe?
stash@{47}: On main: from 2019 lol

The Fear

What’s in stash@{47}? I don’t know. I’m afraid to find out. It’s been there so long it probably has dependencies on libraries that no longer exist.

The Alternative I Discovered Too Late

# Apparently this exists
git worktree add ../feature-branch feature

# Now I have two directories
# No stashing required
# Why didn't anyone tell me

The Reckoning

One day I’ll git stash clear and start fresh. One day I’ll be brave enough to let go of stash@{12} and whatever cursed changes it contains.

Today is not that day.

$ git stash
Saved working directory and index state WIP on main: add blog post about stashes
# stash@{48}