git status

Checking the current status of your working directory

The git status command shows you which files have been modified, staged, or are untracked since the last commit. It's one of the most frequently used Git commands and is the quickest way to understand what state your repository is in.

To use it, make sure you're in your repository directory and type:

$ git status

You'll see output similar to:

On branch main
Changes to be committed:
  (use "git restore --staged <file>..." to unstage)

    new file:   .gitignore

Changes not staged for commit:
  (use "git add <file>..." to update what will be committed)
  (use "git restore <file>..." to discard changes in working directory)

    deleted:    assets/images/cheese/gorgonzola.svg

Untracked files:
  (use "git add <file>..." to include in what will be committed)

    assets/images/cheese/edam.svg

Understanding the output

Git groups files into three categories:

  • Changes to be committed — files that have been staged with git add and will be included in the next git commit. These are shown in green.
  • Changes not staged for commit — files that have been modified or deleted but haven't been staged yet. These are shown in red. Use git add to stage them, or git restore to discard the changes.
  • Untracked files — new files that Git doesn't know about yet. They won't be included in commits until you add them.

To see the actual line-by-line changes in your modified files, use git diff.

Short format

The default output is quite verbose. For a compact summary, use the -s flag:

$ git status -s
A  .gitignore
 D assets/images/cheese/gorgonzola.svg
?? assets/images/cheese/edam.svg

The two-character codes on the left indicate the status: A for added, M for modified, D for deleted, and ?? for untracked. The first column shows the staging area status and the second shows the working directory status.

Showing branch info

Add the -b flag to include branch and tracking information at the top of the output:

$ git status -sb
## main...origin/main [ahead 2]
A  .gitignore
 D assets/images/cheese/gorgonzola.svg
?? assets/images/cheese/edam.svg

This tells you which branch you're on and whether you're ahead of, behind, or diverged from the remote.

Ignoring untracked files

On projects with build directories or generated files, the untracked file list can get noisy. To suppress it:

$ git status -uno

This hides untracked files entirely, so you can focus on files Git is already tracking. For a more permanent solution, add patterns to your .gitignore file so Git doesn't report them at all.

Once your changes are committed and pushed, DeployHQ can deploy them to your servers automatically — keeping your live site in sync with your repository.