A detached HEAD in Git means you’re not on a branch—you’ve checked out a specific commit or tag directly. In this state, Git isn’t tracking your changes against any branch, so any commits you make won’t be saved to a branch unless you take action.

This can happen unintentionally when using commands like git checkout <commit-hash> or when browsing an old tag. It’s useful for quick inspection or testing, but risky if you start committing without realizing you're detached.

To save any work you’ve done, use git checkout -b my-temp-branch. This creates a new branch from your current state and attaches HEAD to it. If you just want to return to normal, switch back to a branch like main using git checkout main. Understanding detached HEAD helps you work more confidently with Git history and avoid losing changes. https://perimattic.com/git-detached-head/