Felix Schneider

Recommended Git Config

Feb 27, 2026 • 4 min read • 600 words

In order to optimize my git workflow, specifically for GitHub, I present you with some configs and tricks that I set up.

Automatic rebase

Since I like to keep my commit history linear, I personally prefer to rebase instead of merge when I pull new changes from the remote repository. This means that if I run git pull, it will not perform a fetch and merge but rather a fetch followed by a rebase, which results in my local commits being automatically included on top of the remote commits coming in. That way, I avoid having merge commits that would IMHO pollute the history.

If you want to try this out yourself, use the --rebase parameter on pull like that:

git pull --rebase

If you feel happy with this workflow, you can set it in your global config, so you don’t need to include the --rebase option anymore:

git config --global pull.rebase true

Default branch: `main`

By default, git often initializes new repositories with master as the primary branch. However, most modern platforms (especially GitHub) have moved towards using main. Instead of renaming your branch every time you run git init, you can tell git to use main globally by default:

git config --global init.defaultBranch main

Adding co-authors

I really like to credit people who contributed in any way to my commits. What I find annoying, however, is that you have to know the GitHub email address of the user you want to Co-author. I used to go to the people’s profile, search for a recent commit they made and appending .patch to the GitHub commit URL. In the diff that you get this way, you can manually extract the email of the user. But why should I manually do this 1min work if I could spend 10h automating it?

An xkcd comic strip titled 'Automation' exploring the discrepancy between theoretical expectation and reality. In the 'THEORY' panel, a graph shows a brief spike for 'WRITING CODE' before a sharp decline as 'AUTOMATION TAKES OVER,' leaving vast 'FREE TIME.' In the 'REALITY' panel, the 'WRITING CODE' spike leads into a fluctuating line of 'DEBUGGING' and 'RETHINKING' that eventually climbs steadily upward as 'ONGOING DEVELOPMENT,' leaving 'NO TIME FOR ORIGINAL TASK ANYMORE' as the workload permanently increases beyond the original baseline.

An xkcd comic titled 'Is It Worth the Time?' featuring a grid that calculates the time-saving break-even point over five years. The horizontal axis lists task frequency (50/day to yearly) and the vertical axis lists time saved per task (1 second to 1 day). Each cell shows the maximum time you should spend automating; for instance, saving 30 seconds on a daily task justifies 12 hours of work, while saving 1 second on a yearly task justifies only 5 seconds. The table uses various units like minutes, hours, days, weeks, and months to illustrate the limits of efficient automation.

Sorry, I just had to include those two legendary xkcds in here.

So I created a little bash script which simplifies adding Co-authors to your commits. All you need is gh and jq installed, and the little bash script below.

brew install gh jq

sudo apt install gh jq

Save this bash script as git-ucommit to a folder that is in your $PATH (like ~/bin or /usr/local/bin) and make it executable with chmod +x ~/bin/git-ucommit:

#!/usr/bin/env bash

# Check for dependencies
if ! command -v gh &> /dev/null || ! command -v jq &> /dev/null; then
    echo "Error: 'gh' (GitHub CLI) and 'jq' are required."
    exit 1
fi

args=()
usernames=()
message=""

# Parse arguments
while [[ $# -gt 0 ]]; do
  case "$1" in
    -u|--user)
      usernames+=("$2")
      shift 2
      ;;
    -m|--message)
      message="$2"
      shift 2
      ;;
    *)
      args+=("$1")
      shift
      ;;
  esac
done

trailer_args=()

# Resolve GitHub usernames to Co-authored-by trailers
for user in "${usernames[@]}"; do
  user_json=$(gh api users/"$user" 2>/dev/null)
  if [[ $? -ne 0 ]]; then
    echo "Warning: Could not find GitHub user '$user'. Skipping."
    continue
  fi

  name=$(echo "$user_json" | jq -r '.name // .login')
  id=$(echo "$user_json" | jq -r '.id')
  email="$id+$user@users.noreply.github.com"

  trailer_args+=(--trailer "Co-authored-by: $name <$email>")
done

# Execute the commit
if [[ -n "$message" ]]; then
  final_msg=$(echo -e "$message" | git interpret-trailers "${trailer_args[@]}")
  git commit "${args[@]}" -m "$final_msg"
else
  # No -m flag? Inject trailers and open the editor
  git commit "${args[@]}" "${trailer_args[@]}" -e
fi

Since the file name starts with git-, you do not even need to create a git alias, as it is smart enough to detect your executable and just allows you run:

git ucommit -m "fix: suggestions" -u trueberryless -u delucis

I myself integrated this functionality into my nix-darwin setup. Check out my Nix module if you can profit from this setup.

Summary

🔄 Automatic Rebase on Pull

git config --global pull.rebase true

Sets your global configuration to perform a rebase instead of a merge when pulling. This keeps your git history linear and avoids unnecessary merge commits.

🌱 Modern Default Branch

git config --global init.defaultBranch main

Ensures every new local repository you initialize starts with main instead of master, aligning your local environment with GitHub’s defaults.

👥 Simplified Co-Authoring

git ucommit -m "message" -u <username>

Uses a custom bash script alongside gh and jq to automatically resolve GitHub usernames to the correct “Co-authored-by” trailers, saving you from manual email lookups.

Resources

Here are some helpful resources for optimizing your Git and GitHub workflow:

That’s it! With these tweaks, your local environment stays modern, your history stays clean, and giving credit to your collaborators becomes a breeze. Happy coding!

Uncommon Git Commands

Feb 26, 2026 • 4 min read • 800 words

Felix Schneider

Automatic rebase

Default branch: main

Adding co-authors

Summary

Resources

Checkout a remote branch on fork

Rename the commit message of an older commit

Clean up local branches

Summary

Resources

tl;dr

Freedom

Experience

Community

Motivation

Journey

Reciprocity

Interest

Enjoyment

Default branch: `main`