Quite a few times, sure. git bisect is a specific case of a more general technique -- binary search fault localization -- which comes in handy every once in a while (you can go a long while without needing it, but when you do need it, you'll be thankful for it). If you can't otherwise trace where in the code something is going wrong, bisect the code: comment or remove half of it out, see if it reproduces (therefore localizing it to either the removed or the remaining half), and repeat. If you're working with some software that's breaking on your config after a major version bump, bisect your config. Don't have an idea what introduced a bug into your branch? git bisect.