My first step with git is always creating a new branch, then I commit multiple times a day with "wip" or minor notes as the commit message. It is purely to capt

My first step with git is always creating a new branch, then I commit multiple times a day with "wip" or minor notes as the commit message. It is purely to capture the stream-of-consciousness of the code. When it comes time to create a sensible patch I immediately branch again. The old WIP branch is not touched until I've completely merged the feature. On the new branch I usually reset then commit hunks in some way that makes sense, or if the changes are small squash everything into a single commit. You can also do the same thing with tags if you like. There is no penalty to branches in git... use them. Frequently.