prikk 0.17.3

Prikk CLI initial scaffold.
prikk-0.17.3 is not a library.

Prikk

Status license crates.io docs.rs Dependency Status

crates.io docs.rs Dependency Status crates.io docs.rs Dependency Status crates.io docs.rs Dependency Status crates.io docs.rs Dependency Status crates.io docs.rs Dependency Status

Prikk is a standalone distributed version control system built around block-oriented patch theory.

Prikk uses a native .prikk/ repository format. It is not a Git wrapper and does not use .git/ as a storage backend. The project aims to combine patch-based semantic precision with practical performance by sealing history into immutable blocks and keeping expensive patch reasoning bounded to active work.

Project Goals

Prikk is designed to be:

  • easy to use for ordinary local development workflows;
  • safe and secure by default, with role-bound signatures and fail-closed validation;
  • resilient against corruption, interrupted operations, and lost mutable pointers;
  • flexible enough for local, peer, and future hosted workflows;
  • fast for long-lived repositories by separating active patch reasoning from sealed block history;
  • explainable when patch reasoning cannot prove a safe result.

Current Status

Latest released implementation: 0.17.3, adding the verify and doctor integrity/recovery reference.

Next increment candidates are tracked in ROADMAP.md.

This is an early implementation suitable for architecture review, experimentation, and contribution. Do not use Prikk as the sole store for important project history yet. The repository format and command surface are still evolving, and future releases may require migration.

The local core can initialize a repository, author signed patches, seal them into blocks, inspect history, verify integrity, diagnose common repository issues, perform safe checkout planning and materialization for the supported subset, and display read-only merge evidence and merge plans for explicit sealed candidates.

Good Fit

Prikk may be a good match if you are:

  • evaluating next-generation VCS architecture;
  • interested in patch theory, commutation, conflict evidence, or signed history;
  • building tools that need verifiable local history and conservative recovery behavior;
  • contributing to a Rust implementation of a correctness-sensitive CLI and storage system;
  • reviewing security, durability, and publication-trust boundaries.

Not a Good Fit Yet

Prikk is not yet the right tool if you need:

  • a production replacement for Git;
  • stable repository-format compatibility;
  • Git object compatibility or transparent Git interoperability;
  • hosted forge workflows, remotes, or sync;
  • complete branch management, tags, semantic merge, or merge execution;
  • plugin/audit execution, attestations, or full publication policy;
  • mature key lifecycle features such as revocation, rotation, hardware signing, or thresholds.

Core Ideas

  • Patch: an atomic logical change with ordered operations and an AUTHOR signature.
  • Block: an immutable sealed collection of patches; blocks are the scalability boundary.
  • Ref state: signed reference state; ref files are pointers, not the root of trust.
  • Ref update: append-only publication evidence for a ref transition.
  • WAL: active signed patch envelopes before sealing.
  • Attestation: future audit/policy evidence targeting blocks without defining block identity.

Quick Start

cargo build -p prikk
export PRIKK="$PWD/target/debug/prikk"

$PRIKK init ./sample-repo

export PRIKK_AUTHOR_KEY_ID="dev-author"
export PRIKK_AUTHOR_SEED="00112233445566778899aabbccddeeff00112233445566778899aabbccddeeff"
export PRIKK_MAINTAINER_KEY_ID="dev-maintainer"
export PRIKK_MAINTAINER_SEED="111122223333444455556666777788889999aaaabbbbccccddddeeeeffff0000"

(cd ./sample-repo && "$PRIKK" trust maintainer add \
  --key-id "$PRIKK_MAINTAINER_KEY_ID" \
  --public-key "a00899dfd3357aee69729405913f9324dfc033cec04a2215239eda64ae6d9d91")

echo "hello prikk" > ./sample-repo/readme.txt
(cd ./sample-repo && "$PRIKK" commit -m "genesis")
(cd ./sample-repo && "$PRIKK" seal --allow-no-audit)

$PRIKK log ./sample-repo
$PRIKK worktree-status ./sample-repo
$PRIKK verify ./sample-repo
$PRIKK doctor ./sample-repo

For a fresh repository, the first commit authors a genesis patch set and the first seal publishes a Root block on heads/main. The current key-input mechanism is intentionally minimal: seeds are passed through environment variables for local experimentation, not as a complete key-management system.

Useful Commands

prikk init [path]
prikk trust maintainer add --key-id ID --public-key HEX
prikk commit [--ref heads/<branch>] -m <message>
prikk seal --allow-no-audit [--ref heads/<branch>]
prikk status
prikk log [path] [--limit N] [--ref REF]
prikk checkout --plan-only [path] [--ref REF]
prikk checkout --snapshot-plan [path] [--ref REF]
prikk checkout --snapshot-materialize [path] [--ref REF]
prikk checkout --patch-plan [path] [--ref REF]
prikk checkout --patch-materialize [path] [--ref REF]
prikk checkout --patch-delete-plan [path] [--ref REF]
prikk checkout --patch-materialize-delete [path] [--ref REF]
prikk merge-evidence --baseline-block ID (--left-block ID|--left-ref REF) (--right-block ID|--right-ref REF) [path]
prikk merge-plan --baseline-block ID (--left-block ID|--left-ref REF) (--right-block ID|--right-ref REF) [path]
prikk inverse-plan [path] [--ref REF]
prikk rollback-preview [path] [--ref REF]
prikk rollback-draft --append-inverse [path] [--ref REF] -m <message>
prikk rollback-draft-verify [path] [--ref REF]
prikk worktree-status [path] [--ref REF]
prikk verify [path]
prikk doctor [path]
prikk doctor [path] --repair-wal-tail
prikk doctor [path] --repair-main-ref

Project Structure

  • crates/ — Rust workspace crates for the CLI, object model, crypto, repository store, replay semantics, hash primitives, and shared errors.
  • docs/ — mdBook documentation.
  • rfcs/ — design records and lifecycle state. rfcs/done/000-rfc-lifecycle-policy.md defines how proposed/, accepted/, done/, archive/, and handoffs/ are used.
  • ROADMAP.md — current release and upcoming theme summary.
  • CHANGELOG.md — released changes.
  • .git-exclude/specs/ — project requirements, external design, non-functional requirements, and handoff material used by maintainers and reviewers.
  • .git-exclude/rules/ — local development and lifecycle rules for this repository.
  • .git-exclude/review-request/ and .git-exclude/reviewed/ — review intake packages and review results used by the design-first workflow.

Development Gates

Before proposing changes, run the relevant subset of:

cargo fmt --check
cargo clippy --workspace --all-targets -- -D warnings
cargo test --workspace

In restricted environments where the default temporary directory is read-only, use a workspace-local temporary directory for integration tests:

TMPDIR="$PWD/.git-exclude/tmp" cargo test --workspace

More Detail

The roadmap, RFCs, and mdBook docs are the best entry points for design details: