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By Lalla Asmaa Alaoui, founder of Mel · Updated
Step-by-step answers to common questions about git, the terminal, AI coding agents and file work. Each guide gives the answer first, then the commands by hand for Mac, Linux and Windows, then the same job done in Mel.
Git
How to undo the last git commit
git reset --soft HEAD~1 keeps your changes; use git revert HEAD if you already pushed.How to see what changed before you commitgit diff for unstaged changes, git diff --staged for what will be committed.How to fix a merge conflict in gitkeep the right lines between the conflict markers, then git add and git commit.How to create and switch branches in gitgit switch -c my-branch creates a branch and moves you onto it.How to discard local changes to a file in gitgit restore <file> puts a file back to its last committed state.Terminal and shell basics
How to find large files from the command line
find . -size +100M lists big files, and du -sh * | sort -h ranks folders.How to find which process is using a portlsof -i :3000 on Mac and Linux, netstat -ano | findstr :3000 on Windows.How to set an environment variable on Mac, Linux and Windowsexport, setx and $env:, for one command, one session or for good.How to search for text in files from the terminalgrep -rn "text" ., plus ripgrep, git grep, findstr and Select-String.How to make a shell alias that lastsadd the alias to ~/.zshrc or ~/.bashrc, with options for fish and Windows.Working with AI coding agents
How to review an AI agent's code changesstart from a clean git tree, read the diff, run the tests, commit what you keep.How to use your own API key with an AI coding toolcreate a key, add it in the tool's settings, set a budget alert.How to run several AI agents at onceone worktree per agent, or one task split by a team of agents.How to approve or block commands an AI agent runsstart strict on deletes, pushes and deploys, then loosen what is routine.How to write a task for a coding agentname the goal, the folder, the limits and the command that must pass.How to compare two AI models on the same coding tasksame task, same commit, then compare result, time and cost.
Files, PDFs and research
How to rename many files at oncepreview the new names, check the list, then rename in one go.How to pull tables or totals out of many PDFsone CSV with a row per PDF, checked against the originals.How to find duplicate photos in a foldercompare file hashes, then move copies to a review folder before deleting.How to research a topic and save the sources to a filea short summary plus a numbered source list in a Markdown file you keep.
Learn the ideas
Want the concepts behind these guides? See Learn for agentic terminals, coding agents, approvals and more.
Mel – the agentic terminal · openmel.dev. A multi-agent, multi-model AI terminal for Mac, Windows, Linux and VS Code. Free with your own API key.
Written by
Lalla Asmaa Alaoui
Founder & CEO of Mel
Lalla is a hands-on tech founder, agentic infrastructure architect and the vision behind Mel.
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