Delete recent commits from any git branch locally and remotely

Use this to remove the most recent commits from a branch. It rewrites history, so it is only appropriate for branches where you can coordinate with everyone who has a copy.

warning

This is destructive. Anyone else working on the branch will need to reset their local copy. If the commits contain secrets, use the secret cleanup runbook instead so the PR diffs and forks are also handled.

Steps

1. Find the commit id of the last good state before the commits you want to remove:

git log --oneline

2. Reset the branch to that commit:

git reset --hard COMMIT_ID

3. Force-push the rewritten branch to the remote:

git push origin main -f

Replace main with the branch you are rewriting.

Completion criterion

• git log locally shows only the commits you want to keep.
• The remote branch matches the local branch after git push -f.
• Other contributors have been told to reset their local branches (git fetch origin && git reset --hard origin/main).
• If the removed commits contained secrets, the secret cleanup runbook was followed instead.

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