pcottle/learnGitBranching · warning · CommandResult

git-status-nothing-staged

Error message

git-status-nothing-staged

What it means

Thrown by commit when the staging area is empty: after handling git commit -a (which stages modified files first), there are still no staged changes, so there is nothing to commit. Mirrors git's 'no changes added to commit' / 'nothing to commit'.

Source

Thrown at src/js/git/index.js:1687

  );
  this.setTargetLocation(this.HEAD, newCommit);

  return newCommit;
};

GitEngine.prototype.commit = function(options) {
  options = options || {};

  // Simulated staging gate: only active when a level engages the changes
  // model. This is what makes `git add` a required step in the staging levels.
  var changedFiles = null;
  if (this.changesModelEngaged) {
    if (options.all) {
      // git commit -a / --all: stage everything modified first
      this.addFiles(null);
    }
    if (!this.hasStagedChanges()) {
      throw new CommandResult({
        msg: intl.str('git-status-nothing-staged')
      });
    }
    changedFiles = this.getStagedChanges().sort();
  }

  var targetCommit = this.getCommitFromRef(this.HEAD);
  var id = null;

  // if we want to amend, go one above
  if (options.isAmend) {
    targetCommit = this.resolveID('HEAD~1');
    id = this.rebaseAltID(this.getCommitFromRef('HEAD').get('id'));
  }

  var commitOptions = changedFiles ? { changedFiles: changedFiles } : {};
  var newCommit = this.makeCommit([targetCommit], id, commitOptions);
  if (this.getDetachedHead() && this.mode === 'git') {

View on GitHub (pinned to 5b09d0ff96)

Solutions

1. Stage files first with add/addFiles (git add .)
2. If files are modified, use git commit -a to auto-stage them
3. Skip the commit when getStagedChanges() is empty

Example fix

// before
git commit // nothing staged
// after
git add .
git commit

if (engine.changesModelEngaged && !engine.hasStagedChanges()) { /* nothing to commit; stage or skip */ }

try { engine.commit(options); } catch (e) { if (e instanceof CommandResult) return; throw e; }

When it happens

Trigger: Calling commit with changesModelEngaged true, options.all not staging anything new (or absent), and hasStagedChanges() returning false — e.g. git commit with nothing staged, or git commit -a with no modified files.

Common situations: Double-committing in a level; forgetting git add after editing files; committing when working tree is clean.

Related errors

• git-error-options
• git-error-staging
• this.getStatusMsg()
• git-error-exist
• cannot fetch to ' + ref + ' when checked out on ' + ref

AI-assisted analysis of pcottle/learnGitBranching@5b09d0ff96 (2026-08-27). Data as JSON: /api/errors/41aa04d917828cfc. Report an issue: GitHub.