🔗 Stop resolving the same Git conflict twice

A merge conflict is annoying once. Resolving the same one again on the next rebase feels like Git charging rent on a decision already made.

Git has a little-known feature for this: rerere, short for “reuse recorded resolution.” When enabled, it can remember how a conflict was resolved and reuse that fix when that conflict arises again. Simply turn it on by using git config --global rerere.enabled true. After resolving a conflict and committing it, rerere can automatically apply the previously recorded fix the next time the same conflict comes up, which is particularly useful when merging upstream changes frequently.

However, it’s crucial to inspect the result of any automatic resolution, as rerere only remembers the textual resolution, not the intent. If a remembered fix is inappropriate, you can use git rerere forget file_to_add.py to erase that resolution and resolve the conflict anew.