Git Tag Usage and Pushing

Git Tag Usage and Pushing | Generated by AI

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Question: How to use git tag and how to push tags with git push?

Answer:

Git tags mark specific commits in your repository history, often used for releases (e.g., v1.0.0).

Lightweight tags: Simple pointers to a commit (like a bookmark). No extra metadata.
Annotated tags (recommended for releases): Full Git objects including tagger name, email, date, message, and optional GPG signing.

List existing tags:
```
git tag
```
Create a lightweight tag (on current HEAD):
```
git tag <tagname>
```
Example: git tag v1.0
Create an annotated tag (recommended):
```
git tag -a <tagname> -m "Your message"
```
Example: git tag -a v1.0 -m "Stable release version 1.0"

Tag an older commit (specify commit hash):

git tag -a v0.9 <commit-hash> -m "Previous release"

View tag details:
```
git show <tagname>
```
(Shows metadata for annotated tags; just the commit for lightweight.)

Tags are not pushed automatically with git push. You must push them explicitly.

Push a single tag:
```
git push origin <tagname>
```
Example: git push origin v1.0
Push all local tags:
```
git push origin --tags
```
To automatically push annotated tags reachable from pushed commits (since Git 2.4+): Configure with:
```
git config --global push.followTags true
```
Then git push will include them.

Local:
```
git tag -d <tagname>
```
Remote:
```
git push origin :refs/tags/<tagname>
```
Or (newer Git): git push origin --delete <tagname>

Best practice: Use annotated tags for public releases to preserve metadata.

References:

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