Git Stash vs IntelliJ shelve

Introduction

Git Stash and IntelliJ Shelve can be quite confusing as both has similar functionality but working entirely different.

While Git Stash is a Git Feature, IntelliJ Shelve is, as the name implies, a IntelliJ Features. Therefore Git can be used even without IntelliJ and is therefore working with other IDEs as well.

IntelliJ Shelve on the other hand is a IntelliJ Feature and therefore needs IntelliJ to work. This also means that this cannot be used in other IDEs or outside the IntelliJ Scope.

Stashing changes is very similar to shelving. The only difference is in the way patches are generated and applied. Stashes are generated by Git, and can be applied from within IntelliJ IDEA, or outside it. Patches with shelved changes are generated by IntelliJ IDEA and are also applied through the IDE. Also, stashing involves all uncommitted changes, while when you put changes to a shelf, you can select some of the local changes instead of shelving them all.https://www.jetbrains.com/help/idea/work-on-several-features-simultaneously.html(27.05.2023)

Documentation for both features can be found here:

Git Stash

IntelliJ Shelve

To use those Features it is necessary that your work is at least under Git Version Control

What does Git Stash and IntelliJ Shelve do?

In general Git Stash and IntelliJ Shelve can be used to save tracked but not yet committed changes. This is useful for several cases:

• Working on another Task is necessary
  Sometimes it is necessary to switch Tasks midway during development. This can happen when something urgent comes up like Production Incidents. In this case you do not want to loose your work, that you have done up until now. In this case you want to save your changes and work on the other Tasks without loosing your already done work.
• Adding something to the previous Commit or directly after it
  If you are working on the next changes and discovers that you want to add something to your previous commit via git --amend or with a new commit but do not want to add it to your current Changes. If multiple Developers are working on the same Feature and you forgot something necessary so that the others can work. If you just comited your changes it would most likely break the code as it is not finished and therefor would cause problems.
• Experimenting with code
  Experimenting with code can be necessary to evaluate possible solutions and. Experimental code in most cases is just a PoC (Proof of Concept) and you do necessary want to commit these changes. With Git stash or IntelliJ shelve you can save your Experimental code without commit it and revert your code back to the latest commited state.
• Pulling changes
  When you need to pull changes but have uncomitted changes, Git may prevent pulling those changes to avoid potential conflicts.
• Resolving Conflicts
  During a merge or rebase the different states and versions of Files can cause problems and prevent from successfully completing merging or rebasing. Without an actuall IDEA that is supporting such cases this can be very difficult to solve. Git Stash or IntelliJ Shelve can be used to first save your changes and then start the merge/rebase process. After resolving all conflicts you can re-apply your saved changes.
  It may be needed to also resolve conflicts that are happening due to the re-applying.

Remember that Git Stash and IntelliJ Shelve are only working with tracked files and is only a temporary solution. If you have untracked files make sure that they will not be lost.

Should I use Git Stash or IntelliJ Shelve?

If you are not familiar with the Git Command Line it can be quite hard to use git stash if your IDEA does not provide a Graphical User Interface. The Advantage of using git stash is that is IDEA Independent and can be used even via command line

In contrast IntelliJ Shelve is tightly integrated with IntelliJ. It provides a GUI but no command line. IntelliJ Shelve also provides the possibility to add patches as shelved changes and therefore is not directly applied to. Via GUI you can also compare different shelves like shelved patches which can give you more insight in what the patch is doing.

As IntelliJ Shelve is tightly integrated with IntelliJ the shelve saved folder is per default in the project .idea folder. This can be changed if needed to save those information in a different folder. This can be useful to avoid loosing changes.

See: https://intellij-support.jetbrains.com/hc/en-us/community/posts/206171349-Lost-Shelf

Conclusion

If you do not work with IntelliJ or switching between different IDEs use git stash.

If you work mainly with IntelliJ using Intellij Shelve can be quite useful as it is deeply integrated in IntelliJ and can provide additional possibilities.

As One does not exclude the other both tools can be used together and can complement each other.

‍