abort

Cancel a paused loom operation and restore the repository to its original state. Without a saved state file there is nothing to roll back, so only the rebase or merge git has in progress is canceled.

Usage

git loom abort

When to Use It

When a loom operation is paused due to a conflict and you decide you don’t want to complete it, loom abort cancels the operation and rolls back all changes made so far:

git loom commit -b feature-auth -m "add auth" zz
# ! Conflicts detected...

git loom abort
# ✓ Aborted `loom commit` and restored original state

What It Does

Loads the saved state from .git/loom/state.json
Aborts the active rebase (if one is in progress)
Applies rollback:
- Hard-resets HEAD to the pre-operation state
- Restores all branch refs to their pre-operation positions
- Deletes any branches that were created during the operation
- Re-applies pre-existing staged changes (if any were saved aside)
- Re-applies working-tree changes (if any were saved)
Deletes the state file
Reports success

After aborting a commit, the committed content is returned to the working tree as unstaged changes (via git reset --mixed) rather than being discarded. Your work is preserved; the commit is simply undone.

When the Abort Itself Fails

git rebase --abort (or git merge --abort) can fail, typically because another git process holds .git/index.lock. Loom then reports the failure and keeps the state file instead of rolling back on top of a rebase that is still running — rerun loom abort once the repository is free.

A reset or a staged-patch restore in the rollback that follows behaves the same way: the state file stays, because it is the only record of what is left to undo, and the message names the half-applied rollback rather than git, which has finished its own abort by then. A temp branch that will not delete, or a working-tree patch that will not re-apply, only warns — the rollback carries on and the state file goes.

For that same reason, never delete .git/loom/state.json to get unstuck. Once it is gone, loom abort can only run git’s own abort: a temp branch, a pre-rebase commit, or a saved staged patch would all be stranded. If loom reports the file as corrupted, move it aside rather than removing it.

Without a Saved State File

If git has a rebase or merge in progress that no loom state file describes — a command that failed before it could save state, or one you started with raw git — loom abort cancels it anyway:

git loom abort
# ✓ Canceled the rebase git had in progress (no loom state to roll back)

A merge is canceled the same way, with git merge --abort.

There is no loom state here, so there is nothing to roll back beyond what git itself undoes: if a loom command had already created a commit or a temp branch, or set staged changes aside, before its rebase started, none of that is undone.

Error: No Operation in Progress

With neither a state file nor a rebase or merge in progress:

git loom abort
# error: No loom operation is in progress

git-loom