Recover a stash you dropped or cleared

Does this match your situation?

• You ran git stash drop and realised you needed it.
• git stash clear wiped the whole stack.
• git stash list is empty but you know you stashed something.
• A stash pop hit a conflict, you aborted, and the stash seems gone.

Step-by-step fix

1. Check the stash list first

   Occasionally the stash is still there and you were looking at the wrong repository or branch. It costs nothing to rule out.

   step 1Copy

   git stash list
   

2. Find unreachable commits in the object database

   Every stash entry is a commit whose message starts with 'WIP on' or 'On <branch>'. Once dropped it becomes unreachable but still exists, and fsck will list it.

   step 2Copy

   git fsck --unreachable | grep commit
   

   Show the PowerShell (Windows) version

   PowerShell (Windows)Copy

   git fsck --unreachable | Select-String 'unreachable commit'
   

3. Narrow the list down to actual stashes

   A large repository can report many unreachable commits. Stash commits are distinctive: they're merge commits with a WIP message, so you can filter for them directly instead of inspecting each one.

   step 3Copy

   git fsck --unreachable |
     awk '/unreachable commit/ {print $3}' |
     xargs git log --merges --no-walk --oneline
   

   Show the PowerShell (Windows) version

   PowerShell (Windows)Copy

   git fsck --unreachable |
     Select-String 'unreachable commit' |
     ForEach-Object { ($_ -split ' ')[2] } |
     ForEach-Object { git log --merges --no-walk --oneline $_ }
   

   💡Look for messages like 'WIP on main: a1b2c3d Add inventory' — that's your stash.

4. Inspect the candidate, then restore it

   Check the diff before applying so you know you've got the right stash. Then apply it like any other stash, or turn it into a branch if you'd rather review it in isolation.

   step 4Copy

   git stash show -p a1b2c3d        # preview the contents
   git stash apply a1b2c3d           # restore it into your working tree
   
   # or keep it separate:
   git branch recovered-stash a1b2c3d
   

Why this works

git stash is not a special storage format — it creates genuine commit objects (one for the working tree, one for the index, and optionally one for untracked files) and records the top one in the refs/stash reference. Dropping a stash pops an entry off that reference's log, leaving the commits unreferenced but physically present in .git/objects. Because they're ordinary commits, every normal Git command works on them, which is why git stash apply happily accepts a raw hash.

If that didn’t work

• Try git fsck --unreachable --no-reflogs, which reports objects that reflog entries would otherwise mask.
• Look in .git/logs/refs/stash — the stash's own reflog may still list dropped entries.
• If git gc has already run with --prune=now, the objects are genuinely gone; fall back to your editor's local history.

How to stop it happening again

• Always label stashes: git stash push -m "inventory UI half done" makes the list readable.
• Prefer git stash apply over pop — apply leaves the stash in place until you're sure it worked.
• For anything you'd be upset to lose, commit to a scratch branch instead of stashing.

Commands used in this guide

Frequently asked questions