Git Says "You Are in 'Detached HEAD' State"

Detached HEAD means you checked out a commit instead of a branch — new commits can be lost. Here's how to tell if you need to save work and how to get back to a branch safely.

What you'll see

Root causes

You checked out a commit, tag, or remote ref directly

git checkout <sha>, git checkout v1.2, or git checkout origin/main all move HEAD off a branch. Any commit you make now belongs to no branch and is only reachable by its SHA.

You were on a branch that was deleted or renamed remotely

After a fetch, a deleted upstream branch can leave your checkout detached. Check with: git branch --contains HEAD — if nothing lists, you're off-branch.

Fix it

  1. Check whether you have uncommitted or unreferenced work
    git status --short && git log --oneline -3 && git branch --contains HEAD
  2. If you made commits you want to keep, create a branch here
    git switch -c rescue-work   # then push it: git push -u origin rescue-work
  3. Otherwise, return to your main branch
    git switch main   # or: git switch -   to return to the previous branch
  4. If useful work exists on a dangling SHA, recover it via reflog
    git reflog --date=relative | head -20   # find the sha, then: git branch recovered <sha>

Field note

git reflog keeps unreachable commits for ~90 days by default, so almost nothing is truly lost immediately. To inspect a commit without detaching, prefer: git switch --detach is the same thing — use git log / git show instead.

Common questions

Did I lose my commits when I left detached HEAD?

No — commits are not deleted, they just stop being referenced. Run git reflog, find the SHA where you made them, and create a branch at it with git branch <name> <sha>.

Why does git push say 'everything up-to-date' in detached HEAD?

Push uploads branches, and you're not on one. Your commits exist only in your local object store. Create a branch first, then push it.

Related fixes

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