That you can create arbitrary branches and keep them forever remotely or locally. If you think you'll need it branch off that point: git checkout -b branch_i_may_need then checkout the previous branch. a git log branch_i_may_need will always show the commit you needed at the top and git cherry-pick `git rev-parse branch_i_may_need` will cherry pick it into whatever branch you're on. That way you keep the commit and can still keep the remote repo clean.