How to Move Git Commits to a New Branch With Updated Timestamps

Ever needed to move a batch of commits from one branch to another — and make them look like they happened right now? Maybe you're cleaning up your Git history before opening a PR, or reorganizing work across branches after the fact.

Whatever the reason, Git makes this surprisingly doable. Here's how.

The Scenario

You're on a branch called feature-branch and the last 6 commits need to move to a brand new branch called clean-branch. You also want every commit's timestamp to reflect the current time instead of when you originally wrote the code.

By the end of this tutorial:

• ✅ A new branch will have your commits with fresh timestamps
• ✅ The original branch will no longer contain those commits
• ✅ All commit messages and file changes stay intact

Step 1: Note Your Commit Hashes

First, grab the hashes of the commits you want to move. We'll list them oldest-first so they replay in the right order:

git log -6 --reverse --pretty=format:"%h %s"

You'll see something like:

a1b2c3d feat: add user settings page
d4e5f6a fix: sidebar alignment on mobile
...

Step 2: Create the New Branch

Create your new branch starting from the point before those 6 commits:

git checkout -b clean-branch HEAD~6

This puts you on clean-branch, which currently has everything your original branch had except the last 6 commits.

What does HEAD~6 mean?
It means "the commit that is 6 steps before the current one." So the new branch starts right where those 6 commits began.

Step 3: Cherry-Pick With New Timestamps

Now replay each commit onto the new branch, but override the timestamp. Replace the hashes below with your actual ones from Step 1:

NOW="2026-06-24T02:50:33+06:00"

for hash in a1b2c3d d4e5f6a g7h8i9j k0l1m2n o3p4q5r s6t7u8v; do
  GIT_AUTHOR_DATE="$NOW" GIT_COMMITTER_DATE="$NOW" git cherry-pick --no-edit "$hash"
done

Replace the NOW value with your desired timestamp, or use the current time dynamically:

NOW=$(date -Iseconds)

Wait — Git has two dates?

Yes! Every commit stores two timestamps:

Tools like GitHub show the author date by default. The GIT_AUTHOR_DATE and GIT_COMMITTER_DATE environment variables let you override both.

Step 4: Verify the Timestamps

Confirm that both dates were updated:

git log -6 --pretty=format:"%h | %s | Author: %ad | Committer: %cd" --date=iso

Every commit should now show your chosen timestamp for both fields.

Step 5: Remove the Commits From the Original Branch

The commits still exist on your original branch. To "move" them (not just copy), reset that branch back:

git branch -f feature-branch feature-branch~6

This rewrites the feature-branch pointer to exclude the last 6 commits. Since you've already got them on clean-branch, nothing is lost.

The Quick Version

If you want the whole thing as a copy-paste script:

# Config — edit these
SOURCE_BRANCH="feature-branch"
NEW_BRANCH="clean-branch"
NUM_COMMITS=6
NOW=$(date -Iseconds)

# 1. Get commit hashes (oldest first)
HASHES=$(git log -$NUM_COMMITS --reverse --pretty=format:"%h")

# 2. Create new branch from before those commits
git checkout -b $NEW_BRANCH ${SOURCE_BRANCH}~${NUM_COMMITS}

# 3. Cherry-pick with updated timestamps
for hash in $HASHES; do
  GIT_AUTHOR_DATE="$NOW" GIT_COMMITTER_DATE="$NOW" git cherry-pick --no-edit "$hash"
done

# 4. Remove commits from original branch
git branch -f $SOURCE_BRANCH ${SOURCE_BRANCH}~${NUM_COMMITS}

# 5. Verify
git log -$NUM_COMMITS --pretty=format:"%h | %ad | %s" --date=iso

Good to Know

• This rewrites history. The new commits will have different hashes. If the original branch was already pushed, you'll need to force-push (git push --force) — coordinate with your team first.
• Cherry-pick preserves authorship. The commit author name and email stay the same; only the dates change.
• Conflicts are possible. If the commits depend on each other in tricky ways, cherry-pick will pause and ask you to resolve conflicts, just like a rebase would.
• Want different timestamps per commit? Instead of a single $NOW, you can set a unique date inside the loop for each cherry-pick.

That's it — six commits, new branch, clean timestamps. Happy rebasing! 🎉