How to Fix git stash pop Conflicts

Conflicts April 2026

How to Fix git stash pop Conflicts

You ran git stash pop and got a conflict. Now your working tree is a mess and your stash is in an ambiguous state. Here is exactly what happened and how to get out of it cleanly.

What just happened

When git stash pop hits a conflict, it applies the stash as much as it can and leaves conflict markers in the affected files — just like a merge conflict. Critically, the stash entry is NOT removed when a conflict occurs. It stays in the stash list until you manually drop it.

git stash list # confirm stash@{0} is still there

Resolve the conflicts normally

Open the conflicting files and resolve the markers:

<<<<<<< Updated upstream
function login() { ... }       // current branch version
=======
function login() { ... }       // your stashed version
>>>>>>> Stashed changes

Edit to keep what you want, then mark each file as resolved:

git add <resolved-file>
git add <other-resolved-file>

Note

Do not run git commit here. You are resolving a stash conflict, not completing a merge. Just stage the resolved files.

Drop the stash entry

Since the stash was not automatically removed on conflict, drop it manually once your files are in the state you want:

git stash drop stash@{0} # remove the stash entry

The safer approach: stash apply + manual drop

Next time, prefer git stash apply over git stash pop. They behave identically, except apply never auto-removes the stash — which means you have time to verify the result before deciding to drop:

git stash apply                  # apply stash, keep it in list
# resolve conflicts, verify output
git stash drop                   # only drop when you are sure

If the conflict is too messy and you want to start over

git checkout -- .                # discard all working tree changes
git stash drop stash@{0}         # remove the stash entry you applied

Warning

git checkout -- . discards all uncommitted changes permanently. Only use it if you want to throw away the conflict resolution attempt entirely and go back to a clean working tree.

Inspect stash contents before popping

To avoid surprise conflicts in the first place, preview what a stash contains before applying it:

git stash show -p stash@{0}      # full diff of the stash
git stash show --stat stash@{0}  # just the changed files

If the stash touches the same files that have changed on your current branch, expect a conflict. Switch to a clean branch before applying, or resolve proactively.

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