You need to commit them first. If you did not commit them, it doesn't work. But yeah, maybe I can just define an alias to add+commit+reset, which should solve this problem.

I just stopped worrying and commit everything into my own repos, even half baked or temporary, making sure that a commit message or a file name signals it clearly. It’s a versioning system for this exact purpose, not a ceremonial sanctuary.

Exactly. To me, some branches are quality, some are quantity.

You can also stash them which is effectively a commit into a special stash stack