Random thought: given you already have the gcaa alias, perhaps you could include a check that .git/REBASE_HEAD doesn't exist in that? Probably easiest as a lit

Random thought: given you already have the gcaa alias, perhaps you could include a check that .git/REBASE_HEAD doesn't exist in that? Probably easiest as a little shell function like gcca() { local GIT_DIR if ! GIT_DIR=$(git rev-parse --git-dir); then return 1 elif test -f "$GIT_DIR/REBASE_HEAD"; then printf 'Rebase in progress: commit --amend is disabled\n' >&2 return 1 fi git commit -a --amend "$@" } rather than an alias? [Edit] I forgot about rev-parse --verify, which simplifies this further: gcca() { if git rev-parse --verify REBASE_HEAD >/dev/null 2>&1; then printf 'Rebase in progress: commit --amend is disabled\n' >&2 return 1 fi git commit -a --amend "$@" } This also leaves you still able to use commit --amend long-hand if (for example) you want to edit one of your own commits during rebase -i.