The gitsh program is an interactive shell for git. From within gitsh you can issue any git command, even using your local aliases and configuration.

For a quick introduction to gitsh, watch our video on Upcase. For further documentation, you can view the man page by running man gitsh in your terminal.

Why should you use gitsh?

• Git commands tend to come in groups. Avoid typing git over and over and over by running them in a dedicated git shell:

  sh$ gitsh
  gitsh% status
  gitsh% add .
  gitsh% commit -m "Ship it!"
  gitsh% push
  gitsh% ctrl-d
  sh$
  

• Hit return with no command to run git status (change this command by setting gitsh.defaultCommand via git config; remember it will be prefixed with git), saving even more typing:

  gitsh% ⏎
  # On branch master
  nothing to commit, working directory clean
  gitsh%
  

• Easily execute shell commands:

  gitsh% !echo Hello world
  Hello world
  gitsh%
  

• Combine commands with &&, ||, and ;:

  gitsh% commit && push
  

• Make temporary modifications to your git configuration with gitsh config variables. These changes only affect git commands issued in this gitsh session and are forgotten when you exit, just like shell environment variables.

  gitsh% :set user.name 'George Brocklehurst and Mike Burns'
  gitsh% :set user.email support+george[email protected]
  gitsh% commit -m 'We are pair programming'
  

• Access information about your repository with magic variables like $_rebase_base, $_merge_base and $_prior.

  gitsh% rebase master
  CONFLICT (content): Merge conflict in db/schema.rb
  gitsh% checkout $_rebase_base -- db/schema
  gitsh% !rake db:schema:load db:migrate
  

• Tab completion for git commands, aliases, and branches without modifying your shell settings, and without any extra setup for aliases and third party git commands.

• Information about the state of your git repository in the prompt, without modifying your shell settings. This includes the name of the current HEAD, and a colour and sigil to indicate the status.

• It works with hub and gh:

  sh$ gitsh --git $(which gh)
  gitsh% pull-request
  

Installing gitsh

• macOS, via Homebrew:

  brew tap thoughtbot/formulae
  brew install gitsh
  

• Arch Linux: https://github.com/thoughtbot/gitsh/blob/master/arch/PKGBUILD

• OpenBSD -current:

  sudo pkg_add gitsh
  

See the installation guide for install instructions for other operating systems.

Contributing to gitsh

Pull requests are very welcome. See the contributing guide for more details.

Similar projects

• git-sh - A customised bash shell with a Git prompt, aliases, and completion.
• gitsh - A simple Git shell written in Perl.
• repl - Wraps any program with subcommands in a REPL.

License

gitsh is Copyright © 2016 Mike Burns, George Brocklehurst, and thoughtbot. It is free software, and may be redistributed under the terms specified in the LICENSE file.

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