newgit

newgit is a Rust CLI implementing the v1 MVP described in newgit-v1-mvp.md. The central idea shows up in the code shape: branch instances bind source state to user-defined trackers and resources, instead of baking env files, installs, processes, databases, or external resources into special internal lanes.

All seven v1 milestones are implemented. The workflow the MVP set out to make feel normal now runs end to end:

newgit init
newgit tracker create runtime-env --audience user
newgit tracker track runtime-env .env.local
newgit resource add deps --template pnpm
newgit resource add app --template process

newgit spawn auth-refactor
newgit action app.start auth-refactor
newgit checkpoint auth-refactor -m "before agent"
# an agent works in the branch workspace, and you dislike the result
newgit undo auth-refactor

newgit export auth-refactor --to ../public-export
newgit cleanup

Install

Prebuilt binaries for macOS and Linux (arm64 and x86_64) are attached to each release. Download, verify, and put newgit on your PATH:

TARGET=aarch64-apple-darwin   # or x86_64-apple-darwin, {x86_64,aarch64}-unknown-linux-gnu
VERSION=v0.1.0
BASE=https://github.com/Spheroman/newgit/releases/download/$VERSION
curl -fsSLO $BASE/newgit-$TARGET.tar.gz -O $BASE/newgit-$TARGET.tar.gz.sha256
shasum -a 256 -c newgit-$TARGET.tar.gz.sha256
tar -xzf newgit-$TARGET.tar.gz
install -m755 newgit-$TARGET/newgit ~/.local/bin/newgit

From source, which needs the Rust toolchain in .mise.toml:

cargo install newgit --locked

Requirements: a git binary on PATH (newgit drives source through Git's public interface rather than reimplementing it) and a Unix-like OS — process supervision uses process groups and signals, so Windows is not supported.

Check what you installed. The commit is part of the version because 0.x moves fast, and -dirty means the binary does not match any commit:

newgit --version   # newgit 0.1.0 (15e4d0da0e51)

Adopting it in a project

cd your-project        # any Git repository with at least one commit
newgit init

init prints what to commit. The split matters: .newgit/config.toml, trackers/, and resources/ are the control plane and belong in Git, so teammates and CI see the same orchestration. Everything else under .newgit/ — branch bindings, captured content, checkpoints, logs, runtime state — is local and is gitignored for you.

Nothing about your repository changes until you ask for it. init writes .newgit/, and tracker track appends to .gitignore; no command rewrites source history, and remove/cleanup never touch the store repository's branches.

Development

This repository uses mise to pin Rust.

mise install
mise run ci        # fmt-check + clippy -D warnings + test, exactly what CI runs
mise run test
mise run install   # build and install into ~/.cargo/bin

CI runs the suite on Linux and macOS, checks the declared MSRV, and smoke tests the release binary against a throwaway project — the tests here drive real git, real process groups, and real ports, so they are integration tests by nature.

Workspace Layout

• crates/newgit-core holds the MVP domain model: branch instances, tracker definitions and content lanes, resource definitions and lifecycle hooks, metadata storage, real-directory materialization, source tracker boundaries, checkpoints and undo, export, and cleanup.
• crates/newgit is the CLI, published as the newgit crate.
• .newgit/ is created by newgit init. Committed: config.toml, trackers/, resources/. Gitignored local state: branches/, snapshots/, checkpoints/, logs/, state/, local/.

Commands

Branch-instance lifecycle (top-level verbs; [instance] is inferred when run inside a workspace):

• newgit init / spawn <name> / status [name] / remove <name>
• newgit run [instance] -- <command> — run with exports and ports loaded
• newgit action <resource>.<action> [instance]
• newgit checkpoint [instance] [-m <msg>] / undo [instance] [--to <id>] / checkpoints [instance]
• newgit export [instance] --to <dir> [--include <path>] [--exclude <path>]
• newgit cleanup [--dry-run]

Definition management (noun subcommands):

• newgit tracker create <name> [--audience <a>] [--storage <s>] [--merge-with-source]
• newgit tracker track <tracker> <path>...
• newgit tracker capture|merge|pull|checkout <tracker> [instance]
• newgit tracker list
• newgit resource add <name> --template <template> / list / templates

Resource templates: process, pnpm, command-snapshot, external.

Two things worth knowing

export fails closed. Source ships (its audience is everyone) and so do trackers whose audience is public. Anything narrower is withheld and reported; --include <path> overrides. It writes one commit, not history, because exporting the branch's commits would carry any file they contain — including withheld ones. This is a path-level filter, not concealment.

cleanup never breaks an undo. It finalizes instances whose workspace is gone, deletes unclaimed workspaces and dead process state, and prunes tracker snapshot revs nothing references — but never a rev a checkpoint still points at, and never a checkpoint record. project- and user-owned resources are never torn down by per-branch cleanup.