Restoring a Deleted File From Git History

Someone deleted a file three commits ago - or three months ago - and now it turns out it was load-bearing. If the file was ever committed, getting it back is a two-command job.

Find where it disappeared#

git log --oneline --follow -- database/migrations/2026_09_14_100000_add_invoice_notes.php

This lists every commit that touched the file, ending with the one that deleted it. When you are not sure of the exact path, widen the search:

git log --all --oneline --diff-filter=D -- '*invoice*'

--diff-filter=D shows only commits where matching files were deleted.

Restore from before the deletion#

Bring the file back from the commit just before the one that removed it:

git restore --source=HEAD~3 -- database/migrations/2026_09_14_100000_add_invoice_notes.php

The file lands in your working tree as an untracked-by-that-name restoration - review it, then commit it like any new change. Restoring a deleted migration this way, before anyone runs it in production, is exactly the Laravel-shaped case: the file matters, the history of how it vanished does not.

For a file deleted long ago, grab the hash of the last commit that had it and use that as the source instead of counting back from HEAD.

The honest limits#

• The file must have been committed at least once. Git only versions what it was told about.
• Staged-but-never-committed work sometimes survives as a dangling blob: git fsck --lost-found can surface it. It is a long shot, but a real one.
• Unstaged, uncommitted work is gone for good - the same rule as git clean and git restore.

The pattern worth keeping: deletions in Git are just commits too, and everything committed is recoverable until the day it is not - which is the same reason the server itself still needs real backups, not just a long history.