cds

Create a date-stamped scratch directory, initialize it as a git repo, and launch oc.

What changed

cds no longer aims for exact alias parity with the old:

alias cds='mkdir -p ~/scratch/$(date +%Y-%m-%d) && cd ~/scratch/$(date +%Y-%m-%d) && oc'

It intentionally adds repo bootstrap behavior:

• every daily folder becomes its own git repo
• revisiting an older dated folder without .git upgrades it into a repo
• each initialized daily repo gets seeded .gitignore and AGENTS.md
• existing seeded files are never overwritten silently

The launch flow is still preserved: create/resolve dir → cd into it → exec oc.

Install

./install.sh

This idempotently symlinks ~/.local/bin/cds → this repo's cds.

Usage

cds                              # create/upgrade ~/scratch/YYYY-MM-DD, git init if needed, seed files, cd, exec oc
cds 2026-01-15                   # same for an explicit date
cds --no-launch                  # create/upgrade + seed + cd, but skip oc
cds 2026-01-15 --no-launch       # explicit date, skip oc
cds --help                       # show help
cds -h                           # short form

Flags and the date arg may appear in any order. Date format is strict YYYY-MM-DD.

Behavior Matrix

Invocation	Creates dir?	Initializes git?	Seeds files?	cds?	Launches oc?
cds	yes if missing	yes if needed	yes if missing	yes	yes
cds 2026-01-15	yes if missing	yes if needed	yes if missing	yes	yes
cds --no-launch	yes if missing	yes if needed	yes if missing	yes	no
revisit old non-repo day	no	yes	yes if missing	yes	yes/no based on flag
revisit existing daily repo	no	no-op	no-overwrite	yes	yes/no based on flag
cds banana	no	no	no	no	no

If git is unavailable or git init fails, cds exits non-zero before launch. If oc is missing, the shell's normal command not found message is shown.

Seeded Files

On first repo initialization, cds seeds from canonical templates in templates/:

• templates/.gitignore
• templates/AGENTS.md

These are copied into the daily repo only when the target files are missing.

No-overwrite rule

If a daily repo already has its own .gitignore or AGENTS.md, cds leaves them untouched.

Parent ~/scratch Coexistence

The parent ~/scratch repo should ignore top-level date-named daily dirs. This avoids noisy parent git status output and prevents accidental staging of embedded repos as gitlinks.

Tests

bash tests/cds_test.sh      # repo bootstrap contract
bash tests/parity_test.sh   # launch-flow preservation

cds_test.sh covers:

• fresh repo creation
• explicit date repo init
• revisit upgrade for old non-repo days
• same-day rerun no-op behavior
• seeded .gitignore + AGENTS.md
• no-overwrite behavior for existing files
• git failure aborts before launch
• --no-launch and normal oc invocation behavior

parity_test.sh verifies launch-flow preservation: cds --no-launch still creates the dated dir, cds into it, and returns an equivalent exit code on both the happy path and a read-only-parent failure path after the repo bootstrap change.

If shellcheck is installed, cds_test.sh also lints cds and install.sh.

Relationship with open-chad

The open-chad project still ships its own bin/cds fork. This repo is the canonical source of ~/.local/bin/cds after ./install.sh is run here.

Why a script and not a function or alias?

• real scripts on PATH work from non-interactive shells and tools
• repo bootstrap, template seeding, and input validation are awkward in alias form
• a single canonical repo keeps cds behavior testable and versioned