Git Just Told You "Failed to Push Some Refs" and Now You Want to Throw Your Laptop

Git just told you "failed to push some refs" which tells you absolutely nothing useful. I've debugged this exact error probably 100 times, and it's usually one of these things fucking up your day:

Your Local Branch is Behind (Happens All the Time)

You've been coding in your cave without pulling, which was stupid but we've all done it. Now your push is rejected because your teammates actually committed stuff while you were working.

The error looks like this:

error: failed to push some refs to 'https://github.com/user/repo.git'
hint: Updates were rejected because the tip of your current branch is behind
hint: its remote counterpart. Integrate the remote changes (e.g. 'git pull ...')
hint: before pushing again.

This usually happens when:

• You forgot to pull for a few days (guilty as charged)
• Someone else pushed to the same branch while you were working
• You fucked around with git reset on commits that were already pushed

War story: I once went 2 weeks without pulling on a shared feature branch. When I finally tried to push, there were 47 commits ahead of me. Spent 3 hours untangling merge conflicts. Don't be me.

GitHub Killed Your Password (Thanks, Security)

If you're getting Authentication failed or Permission denied, it's probably because GitHub killed password authentication in August 2021. Yeah, that was fun to discover at 2am during a hotfix.

remote: Permission denied (publickey).
fatal: Authentication failed for 'https://github.com/user/repo.git/'

Your credentials are fucked because:

• You're still using your GitHub password (doesn't work anymore)
• Your personal access token expired (they do that)
• Your SSH key isn't added to your account
• Two-factor auth is being a pain in the ass

Personal experience: I spent 4 hours debugging what turned out to be an expired SSH key. The error messages were completely useless and I was ready to switch careers.

Merge Conflicts Want to Ruin Your Day

When you try to fix the "behind" issue with git pull, and both you and your teammate edited the same lines, Git throws a tantrum and makes you manually fix everything.

Auto-merging src/main.js
CONFLICT (content): Merge conflict in src/main.js
Automatic merge failed; fix conflicts and then commit the result.

Git will shit all over your files with these beautiful conflict markers:

<<<<<<< HEAD
// Your brilliant code
const apiUrl = "https://api-v2.example.com";
=======
// Your teammate's "brilliant" code  
const apiUrl = "https://api.example.com/v2";
>>>>>>> origin/main

Reality check: Merge conflicts are like taxes - inevitable and annoying. You'll spend way more time resolving them than you think.

Corporate Networks Are the Devil

If you're at a big company, their network probably hates Git. Firewalls block everything that looks remotely useful, and VPNs make everything worse.

Common corporate network bullshit:

• SSH port 22 is blocked (because security theater)
• HTTPS proxy is misconfigured
• VPN routing sends your Git traffic to Narnia
• IT locked down everything and went home

Survival tip: Learn to use SSH on port 443 early. It'll save you when the corporate firewall decides to ruin your day:

git remote set-url origin ssh://git@ssh.github.com:443/user/repo.git

Other Ways Git Can Screw You

Sometimes it's just weird shit:

• The repository got deleted (awkward)
• Branch protection rules block your push
• Large files make Git timeout and die
• Your internet connection is held together with duct tape

Pro tip: Before going down rabbit holes, check if you can access the repo in a browser. Half the time the issue is that simple.

Resources That Actually Helped Me

• GitHub's SSH troubleshooting guide - Only SSH guide that isn't completely useless
• Oh Shit Git - Saved my career more times than I care to admit
• GitHub's non-fast-forward guide - Actually explains what the error means
• Atlassian's merge conflict tutorial - Best visual explanation of conflict resolution
• Git behind firewalls - Corporate network solutions that work
• SSH over HTTPS port - When corporate firewall blocks SSH
• Git authentication failures - Common auth problems and fixes
• Git proxy configuration - Working with corporate proxies
• Personal Access Token guide - Why passwords stopped working
• Git push documentation - Official docs that explain the error messages
• Pushing commits to remote - GitHub's official guide

Now that you understand why Git is throwing its tantrum, let's fix it. Most of the time it's because your local branch is behind. Try this first, and if it doesn't work, then we'll dig deeper into the bullshit.

Fix #1: Your Branch is Behind (Try This First)

This works like 80% of the time. Just fucking pull and then push:

git pull origin main
git push origin main

If you get lucky, Git will auto-merge everything and you're done. Takes 30 seconds if you're lucky, 2 hours if you hit merge conflicts.

If Git throws merge conflicts at you:

Git will puke all over your files with conflict markers. Open each conflicted file and you'll see this shit:

<<<<<<< HEAD
// Your code
const apiUrl = "https://api-v2.example.com";
=======
// Their code
const apiUrl = "https://api.example.com/v2";
>>>>>>> origin/main

Pick which one you want (or combine them), delete the markers, then:

git add .
git commit -m "Merge conflicts resolved"
git push origin main

Pro tip: If you're on a feature branch and main keeps moving, switch to rebasing:

git fetch origin
git rebase origin/main
## Fix conflicts if they show up
git push origin feature-branch

Rebasing makes cleaner history but is scarier if you fuck it up.

Fix #2: GitHub Authentication is Broken

If you're getting Authentication failed or Permission denied, your credentials are probably fucked.

First, figure out if you're using HTTPS or SSH:

git remote -v
## HTTPS: https://github.com/microsoft/vscode.git
## SSH: git@github.com:microsoft/vscode.git

For HTTPS (easier but more annoying):

1. Go to GitHub Personal Access Tokens
2. Generate a new token (select repo scope)
3. Copy the token (you can't see it again, so don't fuck this up)
4. Next time you push, use your username and the token as password

For SSH (better long-term):

## Test if SSH works
ssh -T git@github.com

## If it fails, you need a new SSH key
ssh-keygen -t ed25519 -C "your.email@example.com"
## Just hit enter for default location

## Copy the public key
cat ~/.ssh/id_ed25519.pub

## Add it to GitHub: Settings > SSH and GPG keys

War story: I once spent 4 hours debugging SSH because I had the wrong email in my SSH key comment. The error messages were completely useless.

Fix #3: Corporate Network Bullshit

If you're at work and nothing works, it's probably the corporate firewall being a pain in the ass.

Try SSH on port 443 (HTTPS port):

git remote set-url origin ssh://git@ssh.github.com:443/user/repo.git
git push origin main

This works because IT usually doesn't block port 443 (it would break all websites).

If you're behind a corporate proxy:

## Find your proxy settings (ask IT or check browser settings)
## Replace proxy.company.com:8080 with your actual corporate proxy:
git config --global http.proxy proxy.company.com:8080
git config --global https.proxy proxy.company.com:8080

Nuclear option - switch to HTTPS:

git remote set-url origin https://github.com/microsoft/vscode.git

HTTPS is more likely to work through corporate firewalls, but you'll need to deal with tokens.

Fix #4: Force Push (The Nuclear Option)

WARNING: This can destroy your teammates' work. Only use on personal branches or when you're absolutely sure nobody else is working on the branch.

## Safe force push (fails if someone else pushed)
git push --force-with-lease origin feature-branch

## Dangerous force push (overwrites everything, use with extreme caution)
git push --force origin feature-branch

Before force pushing:

1. Tell your team in Slack/Teams: "About to force push to branch X"
2. Make a backup: git branch backup-$(date +%s)
3. Triple-check you're on the right branch: git branch

Horror story: Someone on my team force-pushed to main and destroyed 2 days of work from 3 people. We had to restore from backup and everyone was pissed. Don't be that person.

When Nothing Else Works

Check the obvious shit first:

1. Can you access the repo in a browser?
2. Are you on the right branch? git branch
3. Are you pushing to the right remote? git remote -v
4. Is your internet working? (I've debugged "Git issues" that were just WiFi problems)

Last resort debugging:

## Check if the repository exists
curl -I https://github.com/microsoft/vscode.git

## Check what you're actually trying to push
git log --oneline origin/main..HEAD

## Check if there are any uncommitted changes
git status

If you completely fucked something up:

## See what you did recently
git reflog

## Reset to a previous state (find the hash from reflog)
git reset --hard HEAD@{1}

Recovery story: I once accidentally pushed 500MB of node_modules to GitHub. The push failed (thankfully), but it taught me to always check .gitignore before adding files. Use git ls-files | xargs ls -l | sort -k5 -rn | head -5 to find large files before pushing.

Resources That Actually Worked When I Was Debugging

• GitHub's non-fast-forward guide - Only GitHub doc that explains this specific error without being useless
• Oh Shit Git - When everything goes wrong, this site has the nuclear options that actually work
• Resolving merge conflicts - GitHub's command line guide that actually works
• FreeCodeCamp's conflict resolution guide - Step-by-step with real examples
• SSH troubleshooting on GitHub - Comprehensive SSH debugging guide
• Git behind corporate proxy - Real-world corporate network solutions
• Using SSH over port 443 - Firewall workaround that works
• Git force push guide - When and how to use --force-with-lease
• Personal Access Tokens - Setting up HTTPS authentication
• Git credential caching - Stop typing passwords constantly
• Git configuration guide - Setting up Git properly from the start

Great, you fixed the immediate problem. But if you're like me, you'll hit this same error again next week unless you change your workflow. After dealing with this error 50+ times, here's what actually prevents it from ruining your day again.

Pull Before You Push (Seriously, Just Do It)

The single best habit I picked up was pulling before every push. It's like checking your mirrors before changing lanes - basic safety.

## Make this your default workflow
git pull origin main
## Do your work, commit your changes
git push origin main

Create a habit, not a to-do item:

## Set up an alias that pulls then pushes
git config --global alias.safepush '!git pull origin $(git rev-parse --abbrev-ref HEAD) && git push origin $(git rev-parse --abbrev-ref HEAD)'

## Now just use: git safepush

Reality check: I ignored this advice for years thinking "I'll remember to pull". I didn't. The alias saved my ass countless times.

Use Feature Branches Like Your Sanity Depends On It

Working directly on main is like coding without backups. Technically possible, but why would you do that to yourself?

## Always start from clean main
git checkout main
git pull origin main
git checkout -b feature/whatever-youre-building

## Push your feature branch early and often
git push origin feature/whatever-youre-building

Why this works:

• Your mistakes only affect your branch
• Merge conflicts happen in PRs, not in your terminal at 2am
• You can force-push feature branches without destroying your teammates' work
• Much easier to recover when things go sideways

Set Up Authentication Once and Forget About It

Nothing ruins a coding flow like authentication failures. Set this up properly once and never think about it again.

SSH is better than HTTPS (fight me):

## Generate SSH key (do this once per machine)
ssh-keygen -t ed25519 -C "your.email@example.com"

## Add to GitHub/GitLab and test
cat ~/.ssh/id_ed25519.pub  # Copy this to GitHub
ssh -T git@github.com  # Should say "Hi username!"

For corporate networks that hate SSH:

## Use SSH on port 443 (HTTPS port)
git remote set-url origin ssh://git@ssh.github.com:443/user/repo.git

Personal access tokens for HTTPS:

• Set them to expire in 90 days (put it in your calendar)
• Use descriptive names: "work-laptop-2024" not "token1"
• Store in a password manager, not a sticky note

Corporate Network Survival Guide

Corporate IT departments seem to enjoy making developers' lives miserable. Here's how to work around their "security" measures:

Try these in order when corporate network blocks everything:

1. SSH on port 443: ssh://git@ssh.github.com:443/user/repo.git
2. HTTPS with proxy: git config --global http.proxy http://proxy.company.com:8080
3. VPN to your home network (if allowed)
4. Personal hotspot (desperate times)

Pro tip: Make friends with someone in IT. They usually know which ports actually work.

Set Up Git to Not Be Stupid

Git's default settings are... not great. Fix them:

## Prevent accidentally pushing to wrong branch
git config --global push.default simple

## Better error messages (Git is usually cryptic)
git config --global advice.statusHints true

## Auto-cleanup deleted remote branches
git config --global fetch.prune true

## Cache credentials for 8 hours (adjust as needed)
git config --global credential.helper 'cache --timeout=28800'

Learn to Check Your Shit Before Pushing

Before every push, run these and save yourself trouble:

## What am I about to push?
git log --oneline origin/main..HEAD

## Am I on the right branch?
git branch

## Are there any giant files that will break the push?
git ls-files | xargs ls -l | sort -k5 -rn | head -5

War story: I once tried to push 2GB of video files to GitHub. The push failed after 20 minutes, and I learned that .gitignore should be the first file in every repo.

Team Communication (Or How to Not Get Fired)

Rules that have saved my job:

1. Never force-push shared branches - Just don't. Ever.
2. Announce big merges in team chat - "Merging feature-x to main, expect merge conflicts"
3. Use pull requests for everything on main - Even small fixes
4. Tell people before force-pushing feature branches - "Force-pushing feature-auth in 5 minutes"

Horror story: A teammate force-pushed main and destroyed a week of work from 5 people. We restored from backup, but he had to buy coffee for everyone for a month.

When You Mess Up (Because You Will)

If you fuck something up, fix it fast:

## See what you did recently
git reflog

## Go back to before you screwed up
git reset --hard HEAD@{1}

## If you force-pushed by mistake, tell your team IMMEDIATELY
## They need to reset their branches:
git fetch origin
git reset --hard origin/main

Recovery checklist:

1. Stop panicking
2. Check git reflog to see what happened
3. If shared branch is affected, tell your team NOW
4. Reset to known good state
5. Try again, more carefully

IDE Integration That Actually Helps

VS Code extensions that saved my sanity:

• GitLens - shows who wrote each line (great for blame... I mean debugging)
• Git History - visual branch history
• Merge Conflict - better conflict resolution UI

Settings to enable:

• Auto-fetch every few minutes
• Show Git status in file explorer
• Warn before committing to main

The Pre-Push Hook That Saved My Career

Create .git/hooks/pre-push and make it executable:

#!/bin/bash
## Stop me from doing stupid things

## Check if I'm up to date
git fetch origin
if [ $(git rev-list HEAD...origin/$(git rev-parse --abbrev-ref HEAD) --count) != 0 ]; then
    echo "Your branch is behind origin. Pull first, dummy."
    exit 1
fi

## Make sure tests pass (if you have them)
if [ -f package.json ] && grep -q "test" package.json; then
    npm test || exit 1
fi

echo "Pre-push checks passed. You're good to go."

This hook has prevented more embarrassing mistakes than I care to admit.

Resources That Actually Teach This Stuff

• Learn Git Branching - Interactive tutorial that shows you how Git actually works instead of just listing commands
• Atlassian Git tutorials - Comprehensive guides that aren't boring as hell
• GitHub Flow guide - Simple branching workflow that actually works in teams
• Git hooks documentation - Setting up automation to prevent mistakes
• Pro Git book - Free, comprehensive, and doesn't assume you're an idiot
• Git best practices - Real-world advice from someone who's made all the mistakes
• GitLab workflow - Rebase and conflict resolution strategies
• GitHub SSH key guide - Complete setup from scratch
• Git behind firewalls - Corporate network survival guide
• VSCode Git integration - Making Git less painful with a GUI
• Git credential helper - Stop entering passwords every fucking time
• Graphite CLI guide - Modern Git workflow tools