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Resolving Conflicts
A conflict happens when two branches changed the same lines, and git cannot tell which version to keep. Git then stops and asks you to decide. This page shows how to find the conflicts, fix them, and finish (or cancel) the operation.
Any of these can stop on conflicts: merging a branch, rebasing (also an interactive rebase), cherry-picking or reverting a commit, pulling (also through Sync Changes or Update Project), applying or popping a stash, and applying a patch or a shelf.
When that happens, Nibtree shows a note ("Merge stopped with conflicts. Resolve them to continue.") and opens the Conflicts dialog for you. You can also find conflicts from:
- The red badge on the Changes icon.
- The Conflicts group in Changes.
- The red conflicts item in the status bar.
- Git > Resolve Conflicts... in the menu bar.
Commits are blocked while any file is still in conflict.
flowchart TD
A["Merge, rebase, pull or cherry-pick"] --> B{"Conflicts?"}
B -- "No" --> Z["Done"]
B -- "Yes" --> C["Banner and Conflicts dialog"]
C --> D["Pick a side for whole files"]
C --> E["Open the merge tool"]
C --> F["Edit the markers in the editor"]
D --> G{"All files resolved?"}
E --> G
F --> G
G -- "No" --> C
G -- "Yes" --> H["Continue"]
C --> I["Abort: go back to before"]
The banner under the header while a merge is stopped on conflicts.
While an operation is in progress, a banner under the header says what is going on, for example Merging feature into main, and how many files still have conflicts (9 files have conflicts). Once none are left it says all conflicts resolved. Its buttons:
- Resolve Conflicts... opens the Conflicts dialog. It shows while conflicts are left.
- Continue takes its place once every conflict is resolved. It finishes the merge, rebase, cherry-pick or revert with git's prepared message.
- Skip Commit (rebase only) drops the commit being replayed and moves on.
- Abort cancels the whole operation and puts your branch back as it was before it started. You are asked to confirm.
While an operation runs, the Git menu shows the same actions, named after it: Resolve Conflicts..., Continue Merge (or Rebase, Cherry-Pick, Revert), Abort Merge and, for a rebase, Skip Commit. They do exactly what the banner buttons do.
The banner belongs to the active repository. In a workspace with several repositories, clicking the conflicts item in the status bar or in Changes switches to the right one.
Every conflicted file of the merge, with what each side did to it. logo.png is marked binary.
The dialog lists every conflicted file. The two columns show what each side did: Modified, Added or Deleted. The column titles name the sides, for example Yours (main) and Theirs (feature).
For the selected files:
- Accept Yours keeps your version of the whole file.
- Accept Theirs keeps their version of the whole file.
- Merge... opens the Merge Tool to combine them line by line. Double-click a file, or press Enter, to do the same. It is greyed out for a binary file (tagged binary) or when several files are selected.
Cmd-click or Shift-click selects several files, so you can accept one side for many at once. Accept Yours and Accept Theirs also work for binary files (such as images) and for files that one side deleted, which the merge tool cannot combine as text. Up and Down move the selection, and Esc closes the dialog.
When the list is empty the dialog says All conflicts are resolved. and offers Continue Merge (or Continue Rebase, Cherry-Pick or Revert).
A note on rebase. During a rebase git swaps the sides: "yours" is the branch you are rebasing onto, and "theirs" is your own commit being replayed. Nibtree labels them Upstream (...) and Your commit (...) so you do not have to remember that.
If you open a conflicted file in the editor, the conflict blocks between the <<<<<<<, ======= and >>>>>>> markers are colored: your side green with (Current Change), the other side blue with (Incoming Change). A common ancestor part is grey: the lines as they were before both sides changed them. Git writes it when its diff3 conflict style is on. A row of links sits above each block.
Accept Current Change, Accept Incoming Change, Accept Both Changes and Resolve in Merge Tool above the markers, with Conflict 1 of 2 on a second line.
- Accept Current Change keeps your side (HEAD).
- Accept Incoming Change keeps the other side.
- Accept Both Changes keeps both, yours first.
- Resolve in Merge Tool opens the three pane Merge Tool for this file. With unsaved edits you are asked first, because the tool starts from git's versions of the file.
With more than one block, the row ends with a counter such as Conflict 1 of 2. When the editor is narrow it moves to a second line. F7 jumps to the next block. You can also just edit the text by hand.
A conflicted app.ts: the Conflicted and 2 conflicts badges and 5 sections in the path bar, and the conflict buttons in the strip below.
The bars above the editor help with the whole file. The path bar has the badges and the arrows; a tinted strip under it has the conflict buttons:
- The Conflicted badge means git lists the file as conflicted. 2 conflicts counts the blocks still in the text.
- The label (5 sections) counts the conflict blocks and other changes together. The arrows step through them.
- Accept All Current and Accept All Incoming settle every block at once.
- Resolve in Merge Tool opens the merge tool, like the link above a block.
When no markers are left, the Accept All buttons go away and Mark as Resolved appears next to Resolve in Merge Tool. It saves the file and stages it, which tells git the conflict is fixed.
- Resolve every file, in whichever way suits each one.
- Click Continue in the banner, or Continue Merge in the dialog.
For a rebase with several commits, git may stop again on the next commit. Repeat until the banner goes away.
Changed your mind? Click Abort at any point to go back to how things were before.