How to fix error: Cherry-pick is not possible because you have unmerged files in Git

First, identify what operation is in progress and which files have conflicts:

git status

Look for sections like "Unmerged paths" which lists files with conflicts, and messages indicating "You have unmerged paths" or "Cherry-pick currently in progress."

List all unmerged files to see exactly what needs to be resolved:

git diff --name-only --diff-filter=U

This shows only files with unmerged (U) status. You can also use:

git ls-files -u

to see the unmerged entries in the index.

Open each conflicted file and look for conflict markers. The format is:

<<<<<<< HEAD
Your current branch's version
=======
The incoming change (from cherry-pick)
>>>>>>> commit-hash

Edit the file to keep the code you want, removing all conflict markers. You can also use a merge tool:

git mergetool

Or accept one side entirely:

# Accept your version (current branch)
git checkout --ours <filename>

# Accept the incoming version (cherry-picked commit)
git checkout --theirs <filename>

After resolving conflicts in a file, mark it as resolved by staging it:

git add <filename>

Or stage all resolved files at once:

git add .

Verify that all conflicts are resolved:

git status

The "Unmerged paths" section should be empty.

Once all conflicts are resolved and staged, continue the cherry-pick:

git cherry-pick --continue

Git will open your editor for the commit message. Save and close to complete the operation.

If you want to cancel the cherry-pick and return to the state before it started:

git cherry-pick --abort

This discards all conflict resolution work and restores your branch to its previous state. Your local uncommitted changes are preserved.

If you're cherry-picking multiple commits and want to skip just this one:

git cherry-pick --skip

This skips the current commit and moves to the next one in the sequence. Use this only if you're certain you don't need this particular commit's changes.

If git cherry-pick --abort doesn't work, you can manually clear the cherry-pick state:

# Remove the cherry-pick state files
rm .git/CHERRY_PICK_HEAD

# Reset to clean up the index
git reset --hard HEAD

Warning: git reset --hard will discard ALL uncommitted changes. Only use this as a last resort when other methods fail.