git-multi

A CLI tool for managing multiple Git remotes and syncing content between them. git-multi simplifies workflows where you need to keep multiple remotes in sync, cherry-pick changes across different upstream repositories, or manage complex multi-remote branch structures.

Features

• Multi-Remote Management: Easily add, rename, and track multiple Git remotes.
• Cross-Remote Syncing: Sync branches and cherry-pick commits between different remotes.
• Unified Branch View: See local and remote branches across all configured remotes in one view.
• File Portability: Copy specific files between different branches or remotes without full merges.
• PR Integration: Quick Pull Request creation using the gh CLI.
• Default Remotes: Set a default remote for streamlined commands.

Installation

cargo install --path .

Usage

GUI Mode

Launch the terminal user interface:

git-multi --gui

The GUI is a three-panel terminal UI: Remotes | Branches | Details, with the Details panel doubling as a live Status view. The remote and branch lists auto-refresh in real time (every ~200ms), so changes made inside or outside the app show up immediately.

Navigation & global keys:

• Tab (or ←/→) — switch focus between the Remotes and Branches panels
• ↑ / ↓ — move the selection within the focused panel
• Space — toggle multi-select of a branch (branches show [x]/[ ])
• f / Enter — fetch the selected remote (+ selected branches)
• p — push, l — pull the selected remote (+ selected branches)
• M — merge across remotes (4-step flow: source remote, source branch, dest remote, dest branch)
• v — toggle Commits view in the Details panel
• C — create a commit (select type, enter subject, optional body)
• s — toggle the Status view (remotes, local branches, working tree)
• r — force refresh, q — quit

Remote actions (when the Remotes panel is focused):

• a — add a remote (name, then URL)
• R — rename the selected remote
• x / Delete — remove the selected remote (confirm with y)
• D — set the selected remote as default

Branch actions (when the Branches panel is focused):

• c — create a branch (name, base, optional remote to push to)
• m — rename the selected branch
• x / Delete — delete the selected local branch (confirm with y)

With no branch selected, fetch/pull target all branches and push targets the current branch.

Merge (GUI, M): A 4-step interactive flow:

1. Source remote (e.g., upstream)
2. Source branch (e.g., main)
3. Destination remote (e.g., origin)
4. Destination branch (e.g., main)

Commits (GUI, v): View recent commits in the Details panel.

Create Commit (GUI, C): A 3-step flow for conventional commits:

1. Select type (feat, fix, docs, style, refactor, test, chore, build, perf)
2. Enter commit subject
3. Optional body (press Enter to skip)

The GUI runs the same git subprocesses as the CLI, so it honours your ~/.ssh/config host aliases (e.g. github.com-personal).

Initialization

Initialize git-multi in your current Git repository:

git-multi init

Remote Management

# Add a new remote
git-multi remote add upstream https://github.com/user/repo.git

# List all configured remote names
git-multi remote list-names

# Set a default remote
git-multi remote set-default upstream

# Set a primary remote
git-multi remote set-primary upstream

# Rename a remote
git-multi remote rename old-name new-name

# Remove a remote
git-multi remote remove upstream

# List all remotes
git-multi remote list --urls

Branch Management

# List all local and remote branches
git-multi branch list --all

# Create a new branch locally
git-multi branch create feature-branch --base main --checkout

# Create a new branch locally and on multiple remotes
git-multi branch create feat/uat --remotes origin upstream backup --checkout

# Rename a local branch
git-multi branch rename old-branch new-branch

# Delete a local branch
git-multi branch delete feature-branch

Syncing and Moving Content

# Sync changes from one remote branch to another
git-multi sync --from-remote upstream --to-remote origin --from-branch main --to-branch main

# Copy specific files from another branch
git-multi copy --from dev-branch --files src/main.rs src/utils.rs

Merging across remotes

Merge a branch from one remote into the current local branch, optionally pushing the result to another remote:

# Merge upstream/main into the current branch
git-multi merge --from-remote upstream --from-branch main

# Merge and push the result to origin
git-multi merge --from-remote upstream --from-branch main --to-remote origin --push

Standard Git Operations (Enhanced)

# Fetch from all remotes
git-multi fetch --all

# Fetch from a specific remote (the current branch is used for push/pull)
git-multi fetch upstream

# Fetch specific branches from a remote
git-multi fetch upstream --branches main dev release

# Fetch every branch of a remote
git-multi fetch upstream --all-branches

# Push current branch to all remotes
git-multi push --all

# Push current branch to a specific remote
git-multi push upstream

# Push multiple branches to a specific remote
git-multi push upstream --branches main dev

# Push every local branch to a specific remote (optionally --force)
git-multi push upstream --all-branches
git-multi push upstream --all-branches --force

# Pull into the current branch from a specific remote
git-multi pull upstream

# Pull multiple branches from a specific remote
git-multi pull upstream --branches main dev

# Pull every branch of a remote
git-multi pull upstream --all-branches

Configuration

git-multi stores its configuration in .gitmulti/config.toml within your repository. This file tracks default remotes, sync preferences, and metadata for each remote.

License

MIT