Learn Git Branching Unblocked

Learn Git Branching is the rare coding tutorial that feels like a puzzle game. A terminal sits on one side of the screen and a live graph of commits fills the other, with circles for commits and labels for branches. Each level shows you a target shape, and you type actual git commands until your graph matches it. Peter Cottle built it to make branching, merging and rebasing visible, and on FreezeNova you can play it unblocked in any desktop browser without installing git at all.

From First Commit to Remote Repos

Every level opens with a short lesson. Many include an animated demo of the new command, so you see exactly what git rebase or git merge does to the tree before you try it.

Close the lesson and start typing. Something like git branch feature, git checkout feature or git commit redraws the diagram immediately. A goal window floats on top showing the shape you need; hide it while you work and bring it back to compare. When the trees match, the level is marked solved and the next one is offered. Matching it in as few commands as the reference answer earns a gold star.

The 36 levels are split across two tabs:

• Main (20 levels) in five sets: an introduction, ramping up, moving work around, a mixed bag and advanced topics.
• Remote (16 levels) on clone, fetch, pull, push and the arguments that change their behavior.

Learn Git Branching controls

To do this	Keyboard	Mouse
Run a command	Type anywhere on the page, then Enter	—
Browse and choose levels	Type levels, then arrow keys and Enter	Click a level number in the menu
Peek at the target tree	Type show goal (or hide goal)	Click Show Goal on the level bar
Ask for a nudge or reread the lesson	Type hint, or objective	Click Instructions on the level bar
Reverse your last command	Type undo (or reset to start over)	—
Move through or dismiss a lesson	Right arrow or Enter for next, Left arrow for back, Escape to close	Click the arrows or the check mark

Getting Unstuck

The hardest part for most people is not the syntax, it is knowing where HEAD is. Watch for the asterisk next to a branch name: that is where your next commit will land. If you commit and the new circle appears somewhere unexpected, you were on the wrong branch.

Relative references save a lot of squinting. main^ means one commit before main, and HEAD~3 means three back. They are faster than reading commit IDs off the graph.

Before typing anything on a hard level, study the goal. Copied commits with a prime mark suggest git rebase or git cherry-pick. A commit with two parent lines means a merge happened.

When an idea fails, type undo instead of resetting the whole level. And if you want to experiment without a goal, sandbox drops you into a free practice tree.

Only use show solution as a last resort, since a level solved that way does not count.

Who Should Play

Computer science students, bootcamp learners and new developers will get the most out of it, but anyone who has ever been confused by a merge conflict will find the visual model eye-opening. You need a keyboard, so it is a laptop or Chromebook game. If you enjoy learning through puzzles, follow up with SQL Detective Mystery or program a robot in Robot Coder.