[Git] Error: fatal: You are in the middle of a rebase — Cannot perform that operation

Summary

fatal: You are in the middle of a rebase appears when a rebase operation is active but incomplete. Git blocks most commands during an ongoing rebase to prevent repository corruption. You must either continue, skip, or abort the rebase before performing any other operations.

Context

A rebase sequentially reapplies your commits on top of another branch. If conflicts occur, Git pauses and waits for you to resolve them manually. During this pause, Git restricts all other commands until the rebase process is finished, skipped, or aborted.

Probable Cause

You started a rebase and left it incomplete (due to conflicts or interruption).
You tried to run another Git operation (commit, merge, checkout) mid-rebase.
An IDE or script initiated a rebase automatically and didn’t complete it.
System crash, power loss, or Ctrl+C interrupted the process.

Quick Fix

Check the current rebase status:
```
git status
```
It will indicate: You are currently rebasing branch 'main' on 'origin/main'.

If conflicts exist, resolve them manually:

<<<<<<< HEAD
Your changes
=======
Incoming changes
>>>>>>> commit-hash

Stage resolved files:
```
git add <file>
```
Continue the rebase:
```
git rebase --continue
```
Skip the current commit (optional):
```
git rebase --skip
```
Abort the rebase entirely:
```
git rebase --abort
```

After resolving, verify:

git log --oneline --graph --decorate --all

Example

# Error
$ git commit -m "Fix config"
fatal: You are in the middle of a rebase — cannot perform that operation

# Check status
$ git status
You are currently rebasing branch 'main' on 'origin/main'.
  (fix conflicts and then run "git rebase --continue")

# Fix conflicts and continue
$ git add config.js
$ git rebase --continue
[detached HEAD 3a1e52f] Fix config
Successfully rebased and updated refs/heads/main.

Alternate Scenarios

Interrupted IDE rebase: Resume it with git rebase --continue.
Stuck rebase with broken patch: Skip problematic commit using git rebase --skip.
Rebase no longer needed: Abort safely with git rebase --abort.

Pitfalls & Debug

Symptom → You can’t commit or checkout. Fix → Finish or abort the rebase first.
Symptom → IDE reports 'rebase in progress' on startup. Fix → Manually run git rebase --abort.
Symptom → Unsure which commit is causing the issue. Fix → View it with git rebase --show-current-patch.

Verification & Next Steps

# Check rebase progress
git status

# View current commit being applied
git rebase --show-current-patch

# Inspect rebase metadata
ls .git/rebase-merge/ .git/rebase-apply/ 2>/dev/null

Best Practices

Always resolve all conflicts before running git rebase --continue.
Abort immediately if the rebase seems inconsistent — git rebase --abort is safe and reversible.
Use git pull --rebase carefully — interruptions create the same error state.
Inspect your commit graph after completion to ensure history is linear and correct.

Sources

Git Documentation — git rebase

Stack Overflow — You are in the middle of a rebase

Tool/Git, OS/Cross-platform, Topic/Rebase Conflict Resolution

Search for an Error

Error Atlas