Undo the last commit but keep the changes

Reset the last commit while keeping all changes staged and ready to re-commit.

git reset --soft HEAD~1

Your files stay exactly as they were. The commit is gone, but the changes are staged (in the index), ready for a new commit.

When to use this

• You committed with the wrong message
• You want to add more changes to the commit
• You committed to the wrong branch and need to move changes

The three reset modes

Use --soft when you want to redo the commit. Use --mixed when you want to restage selectively. Never use --hard unless you want to discard changes entirely.

Gotchas

• Only works for unpushed commits. If you already pushed, use git revert instead: it creates a new commit that undoes the previous one without rewriting history.
• HEAD~1 means “one commit back.” Use HEAD~3 to undo the last 3 commits (changes from all 3 are kept staged).
• If you need to undo a merge commit, add -m 1 to specify the parent: git reset --soft HEAD~1 still works, but check which parent you want.