git stash

Shelve and restore

Stash saves your dirty working directory and reverts it to a clean state, so you can switch branches instantly.

git stash
# ...switch branches, fix something urgent...
git stash pop

Output:

Saved working directory and index state WIP on main: a1b2c3d ...

Multiple stashes

Stashes stack up — list and pick which one to restore.

git stash list
git stash apply stash@{1}

pop vs apply

stash pop applies and deletes the stash entry; stash apply applies but keeps it around in case you need it again.