On branch main

As a developer, an important part of my Git workflow is reviewing changes and selectively staging files before committing. However, there are times when I find it helpful to stage all changes in my working directory – whether they be untracked files, file modifications, deletions, or renames. In this comprehensive guide, I‘ll cover common scenarios for staging all Git changes and the various commands that allow you to stage your working tree in full.

Common Use Cases for git add -A

Here are some examples of when staging all changes in Git can be useful:

• Before switching Git branches – Adds all modifications so they are committed and won‘t be lost.
• Before stashing work – Allows you to stash even untracked files.
• Before fetching/merging other branches – Avoids conflicts from uncommitted local changes.
• Adding a batch of new files – Quickly stages everything instead of individual adds.
• Restoring original files with git reset – Can reset multiple files in one command.

While git add -A or git add . seem appealing for these cases due to their ease of use, it‘s still best practice to review changes before blindly adding all of them. The git status and git diff commands can help you examine exactly what is changed.

Staging All vs Selective Staging

Staging all changes in one mass add operation has advantages like convenience and speed. But selectively adding files has benefits too:

• Fine-grained control over what content gets committed
• Split logical changes into separate commits
• Optionally partially stage files using git add -p

Blindly running git add -A can group unrelated changes together. Reviewing changes first allows smarter commits.

However, for unstable work-in-progress, staging everything acts as a checkpoint before tackling new problems. You can even configure commit hooks like pre-commit to inspect changes before allowing the commit.

Ultimately both approaches are valid depending on the context. Use your best judgement!

When to Stage All Changes

Let‘s expand on several use cases where staging all changes makes sense.

Before Integrating Upstream Code

One scenario is when you‘ve made local changes and need to integrate work from upstream (e.g. git pull). Staging everything avoids merge headaches:

# Edit some files
git status
# Changed files X, Y, Z

# Grab shared commits
git fetch

# Avoids conflicts between local edits and incoming merges
git add -A 
git merge

Staging locally makes merges smoother.

When Rewriting Code

Another case is when doing major refactors including file relocations:

# Start heavily restructuring component
git mv module/old.js ui/new.js

# Rework implementation
vim ui/new.js  

# Stage all changes as a checkpoint
git add -A

Here it captures even moves/renames before further editing.

In Automated Pipelines

For CI/CD pipelines, staging everything preserves test environment consistency:

# Make changes to implement feature
git commit -m "Start new feature"

# Pipeline clones, tests, then prepares artifacts
git add -A
git commit -m "Finish feature"

Adding all changes persists them outside just the working tree.

Understanding Git‘s Staging Area

Before diving into various git add options, let me quickly summarize Git‘s staging area and how it relates to the working directory and commits.

In simple terms, Git has three main states that your files can be in:

1. Committed state (how files are saved in snapshots in the Git history)
2. Staged state (files that are marked to go into the next commit)
3. Modified state (working directory with file changes not staged for commit yet)

The staging area in Git allows you to pick out which modifications should be included in the next commit rather than just blindly committing everything in the working directory. This gives developers precise control over commits.

git add vs git add -A vs git add . Explained

The main Git commands for adding file changes to the staging area for the next commit are:

• git add – Stage all modifications to tracked files
• git add -A (or git add --all) – Stage modified/deleted tracked files AND new untracked files
• git add . – Stage all changes in the current directory and subdirectories, including untracked files

The key difference between these git add options lies in how they handle new untracked files versus file changes to already tracked files. Let‘s explore each command…

git add

Running the regular git add command without any flags or arguments will stage any modifications to files that Git is already tracking in the repository. This includes:

• File edits
• File renames
• File deletions

What git add does not stage are entirely new files that Git has not previously tracked. This can be seen in the example below:

# On branch main  
# Untracked files:
#   (use "git add ..." to include in what will be committed)
#       
#       new-file.js
git add .   

So regular git add stages tracked file changes only. The new-file.js is left in the untracked state.

git add -A

The git add -A command (same as git add –all) takes things a step further by also staging new untracked files and files deleted from the working tree:

# On branch main
# Untracked files: 
#   (use "git add ..." to include in what will be committed)
#       
#       new-file.js
git add -A  

With git add -A, all modifications including renames, deletions, edits, and new files unconditionally get added to the staging area. Think of it as a way to quickly stage everything that is changed.

One caveat is that git add -A does NOT add new files in ignored or untracked directories. Only direct descendants of the current directory get staged with the -A option.

Handling Renames

An important aspect of the various add commands is how they deal with file renames and copies. By default, Git handles renames using a heuristic based on file similarity.

For example if you rename foo.txt to bar.txt, with standard add/commit Git will record that as a rename behind the scenes. This relies on its rename detection to match files by content.

The benefit over recording a file deletion and addition is that it more accurately represents history and retains author metadata. Git add -A and git add . preserve this behavior for moved/renamed files.

git add .

Similar to git add -A, running git add . will stage changes to tracked files plus initial additions of new untracked files.

The difference lies in the subdirectory behavior. With git add ., all changes underneath the current directory get added recursively, including bringing new files into the staging area even if they are in nested subfolders.

project
├─ .gitignore
├─ new-file.js  
└─ configs
   └─ config.json <-- Currently untracked  
git add .

So git add stages the current directory and below.

Safely Resetting Staged Changes

As a precaution when running mass git add operations, it‘s a good idea to review changes first before committing them permanently into the repository history.

Git offers reset and restore options to safely undo adds in case you stage something incorrectly:

# To unstage specific files
git reset HEAD path/to/file  

git reset HEAD .

git restore --staged path/to/file
git restore .

I hope this guide has shed some light on how to fully stage your working tree changes using key Git commands like git add, git add -A, and git add .. Adding changes to the staging area with the precision you need takes practice – but Git offers flexibility to add batches of changes or undo mistakes.