git-x 0.1.0

CLI extensions for Git that simplify common workflows
Documentation

🚀 git-x – Superpowers for Git

git-x is a collection of smarter, faster, and more intuitive Git subcommands built to make your daily workflow suck less.

It wraps common Git actions in muscle-memory-friendly, no-brainer commands — perfect for solo developers, team leads, and anyone tired of typing git log --oneline --graph --decorate --all for the 400th time.

📚 Table of Contents

Why Does This Exist?

Git is powerful, but its UX is stuck in the early 2000s.

You're probably asking:

  • “Why is this branch here?”
  • “What changed since I last pushed?”
  • “Can I just get a clean, visual summary of this repo?”
  • “How do I undo that commit without wrecking everything?”

Most Git tools either:

  • Show too much (spammy logs, unreadable diffs)
  • Show too little (cryptic one-liners with no context)
  • Or require memorizing a dozen flags

git-x fixes that by giving you opinionated, purpose-built subcommands that just do the thing.

Installation

cargo install git-x

Or clone and run manually:

git clone https://github.com/simeg/git-x
cd git-x
cargo install --path .

Example Commands

info

Show a high-level overview of the current repo

git x info

Output:

Repo: my-project
Branch: feature/auth
Tracking: origin/feature/auth
Ahead: 2 Behind: 0
Last Commit: "fix login bug" (2 hours ago)

graph

Pretty Git log with branches, remotes, and HEADs

git x graph

Output:

(essentially wraps this)

git log --oneline --graph --decorate --all

color-graph

Colorized Git log with branches, remotes, HEADs, and author info

git x color-graph

Output:

Enhanced version of git x graph with:

  • Full color support for branches, commits, and decorations
  • Author names and timestamps for each commit
  • Rich formatting that's easy to scan

(essentially wraps this)

git log --oneline --graph --decorate --all --color=always --pretty=format:"%C(auto)%h%d %s %C(dim)(%an, %ar)%C(reset)"

prune-branches

Deletes all local branches that have already been merged into the current branch, while skipping protected ones.

Useful for keeping your repo tidy after merging feature branches.

Defaults:

  • Protected branches: main, master, develop
  • Won’t delete current branch
  • Will only delete branches that are fully merged

Flags:

  • --except <branches> — Comma-separated list of branch names to exclude from deletion
git x prune-branches --except "release,v1.0-temp"

since [ref]

Show commits since a reference (e.g., main, origin/main)

git x since origin/main

Output:

🔍 Commits since origin/main:
- 8f2d9b3 fix login bug
- b41a71e add auth test

undo

Undo the last commit (without losing changes)

git x undo

Output:

Last commit undone (soft reset). Changes kept in working directory.

clean-branches

Delete all fully merged local branches (except protected ones)

git x clean-branches

Output:

🧹 Deleted 5 merged branches:
- feature/refactor
- bugfix/signup-typo
...

what [branch]

Show what’s different between this branch and another (default: main)

git x what
git x what develop

Output:

Branch: feature/new-ui vs main
+ 4 commits ahead
- 2 commits behind
Changes:
 - + new_ui.js
 - ~ App.tsx
 - - old_ui.css

summary

Show a short, changelog-style summary of recent commits

git x summary
git x summary --since "2 days ago"

Flags:

  • --since — Accepts natural date formats like "2 days ago", "last Monday", or exact dates like "2025-07-01". It uses Git’s built-in date parser, so most human-readable expressions work.

Output:

🗞️ Commit summary since 3 days ago:

📅 2025-07-25
 - 🛠 fix: update token refresh logic (by Alice, 3 hours ago)
 - ✨ feat: add dark mode support (by Bob, 6 hours ago)

📅 2025-07-24
 - 🔥 remove unused dependencies (by Alice, 1 day ago)

📅 2025-07-23
 - 🐛 fix: handle null response in API call (by Carol, 2 days ago)
  • Groups commits by day
  • Shows commit message, author, and relative time
  • Useful for writing daily stand-ups, changelogs, or review summaries
  • Defaults to showing commits from the last 3 days
  • Can be customized using --since (e.g. --since "1 week ago")
  • Sorts commits newest-first within each day

Git Integration: How git-x Just Works™

Since git-x is installed as a standalone binary, Git automatically recognizes it as a subcommand when you type git x [command].

This is Git's standard extension mechanism — no configuration needed.

How it works:

  1. You run git x info
  2. Git looks for an executable called git-x in your $PATH
  3. Git runs git-x info and displays the output

Why this rocks:

  • Zero setup required
  • Works in any Git repo
  • Integrates seamlessly with your existing Git workflow
  • All your Git aliases, hooks, and config still work

What's Under the Hood?

git-x is a thin, opinionated wrapper around native Git commands.

Philosophy:

  • No magic — Every git-x command maps to standard Git operations
  • Readable — You can see exactly what Git commands are being run
  • Predictable — Follows Git's existing patterns and conventions
  • Fast — Minimal overhead, direct subprocess calls

Example: git x graph literally runs:

git log --oneline --graph --decorate --all

Why Rust?

  • Fast startup — Sub-millisecond command execution
  • Zero dependencies — Single binary, no runtime requirements
  • Cross-platform — Works on macOS, Linux, Windows
  • Memory safe — No crashes, no memory leaks

Roadmap Ideas

  • git x stash: A smarter stash viewer with preview
  • git x prune: Aggressively delete stale branches (with dry-run)
  • git x inspect: Interactive blame / file history explorer

Built With

  • Language: Rust 🦀
  • Shell: Integrates cleanly with Bash, Zsh, Fish, etc.
  • Uses: native git under the hood — no black magic

License

MIT