01 · FoundationsLab 6 / 59
Challengegit
Git Branching & Collaboration — Challenge
Work a change through a branch, a rebase and a conflict, and recover from the three mistakes everyone makes.
- Time
- 22 min
- Level
- Beginner
- Objectives
- 4 objectives
- Cost
- Free
Where this fits in the platform
Already built
—
This lab adds
- A repository you can branch and merge without fear
Before you start
You will need
- git 2.30+
- a GitHub account
You do not need these already — the lab environment below provides them.
You will be able to
- Take a change from branch to merged pull request
- Rebase onto a moved main and resolve a conflict deliberately
- Recover a commit you thought you destroyed
- Remove a secret from history, and know why that is not enough
Cost — Free
— a GitHub account is enough
The goal#
Achieve the same outcome as Git Branching & Collaboration, from an empty starting point, without the steps.
You are contributing to a repository other people are also changing. Main has moved since you branched, your history has a conflict in it, and at some point you will reset something you did not mean to.
All three are normal. None of them should cost you work.
Hands-on environment
Run this lab in a real terminal, free and in your browser. The environment is temporary and yours alone — break it as much as you like.
Start the challengeOpens in Killercoda, in a new tab — keep this page open for the steps.
This is the guided lab's environment — the same machine, with its walkthrough on the left. Work from the task above and leave those steps alone until you are done, or you are reading the answers.
Run it on your own machine
Run this lab on your own machine. One command starts the environment, with everything the lab needs already installed:
You will need:
- git
git clone https://github.com/EgyKode/EgyKode-lab.git
cd EgyKode-lab
./egykode start
./egykode shellYou need Docker and Git installed. Everything else runs inside the environment. The first start downloads it and takes a few minutes; later starts are seconds.
Not sure what you already have? Run: npm run doctor — it checks and changes nothing.
Anything you tick here is your own record. EgyKode cannot see inside that terminal, so the success criteria stay self-assessed even when the environment checks your work for you.
What must be true when you are done
Step 1 of 3
What must be true when you are done#
- A feature branch is merged into main through a pull request, with a linear history.
- You resolved a real conflict — not by taking one side wholesale, but by reading both.
- You recovered a commit after a hard reset, using the reflog.
- You can explain why removing a committed secret from history does not make it safe.
Rules#
- Do not open the guided lab until you are finished, or until you have been stuck on the same thing for 20 minutes. Being stuck is the exercise; staying stuck is not.
- Official documentation is allowed and encouraged. In the job it is the first thing you open.
- Verify every criterion yourself with a command whose output you can read. "It looks right" is not a check.
If you get stuck#
Work in layers rather than restarting things:
- What did you expect to happen, exactly?
- What happened instead — the error text, not a paraphrase?
- Which layer is that error from?
- What is the smallest command that proves the layer below is fine?
That sequence is the skill this tier exists to build. The commands are lookup-able; the sequence is not.
You are done when
0 of 4
The concept behind it
Next up
Lab 6 of 59 on the project path