git · Git
The message
nothing to commit, working tree clean
What it means
This is not an error: git is telling you nothing differs from the last commit, so it did nothing. You see it when the file you edited is matched by .gitignore, when the place you edited is a different clone or worktree from the one you are standing in, or when you already committed and forgot. git check-ignore -v <path> prints the exact .gitignore line that hides a file, and git log -1 shows whether the change already landed. Both commands only read.
The fix
git check-ignore -v path/to/file- Printed by
- git
- Git
- 29
Almost every git error is a refusal that means "doing that from this state would lose something"; fatal: means git stopped without changing anything, and the hint: lines under the first line usually carry the actual remedy.
Reading an error message
- Read from the first line down. The lower you go the more it is about the tool’s internals; the cause is usually at the top.
- If there is a file and a line number, start there — not the top stack frame, but the topmost line that names a file you wrote.
- Search the message verbatim, but strip your own paths and variable names first; those are what stop the search from matching.
- The same condition is worded differently across tool versions. If results look wrong, add the version number to the query.
- Before pasting a fix, check what it throws away. Some of these cannot be undone.
Common questions
Q. What does “nothing to commit, working tree clean” mean?
This is not an error: git is telling you nothing differs from the last commit, so it did nothing. You see it when the file you edited is matched by .gitignore, when the place you edited is a different clone or worktree from the one you are standing in, or when you already committed and forgot. git check-ignore -v <path> prints the exact .gitignore line that hides a file, and git log -1 shows whether the change already landed. Both commands only read.
Q. How do I fix it?
git check-ignore -v path/to/file — before running it, check the explanation above for what this command discards.
Q. Which tool prints this?
git. It sits under Git, and the message runs to 6 words.