Git Helper (Go version)

Making it easier to work with Git on the command-line.

Installation

All task builds and pre-built packages are built specifically using the flags GOOS=darwin GOARCH=arm64, only for Apple Silicon. To obtain any other build setups, either build your own or contact me at https://emmasax.com/contact-me/. I do not guarantee the performance of this package on any systems that are not Apple Silicon.

Building Locally

You can build the binary locally by running this from the root directory of this repository:

task build

Then, you can move that to /usr/local/bin:

sudo mv git-helper_darwin_arm64 /usr/local/bin/git-helper

Downloading from GitHub Releases

Alternatively, you can download pre-built binaries straight from GitHub Releases. After downloading, move them into /usr/local/bin and change the permissions. The examples below assume the binaries downloaded to ~/Downlaods:

sudo mv ~/Downloads/git-helper_darwin_arm64 /usr/local/bin/git-helper
sudo chown $(whoami):staff /usr/local/bin/git-helper
sudo chmod +x /usr/local/bin/git-helper

When you run the binary for the first time, you may get a pop-up from Apple saying the binary can't be verified by Apple. If you wish to continue, follow these instructions to allow it to run:

• Click Show in Finder
• Right-click on the binary, and select Open
• When you get another pop-up, select Open

Updating Git Helper

This section assumes you already have Go's Git Helper installed.

To update your version of Git Helper to the latest version available in GitHub, you can run:

git-helper update

Your sudo password may be required, and you may need to verify the package is runable as following the instructions above.

Setup

Some of the commands can be used without any additional configuration. However, others utilize special GitHub or GitLab configuration. To set up access with GitHub/GitLab, run:

git-helper setup

This will give you the option to set up credentials at GitHub and/or GitLab, as well as give you the choice to set up Git Helper as a plugin or not (see below).

The final result will be a ~/.git-helper/config.yml file with the contents in this form:

github_user:  GITHUB-USERNAME
github_token: GITHUB-TOKEN
gitlab_user:  GITLAB-USERNAME
gitlab_token: GITLAB-TOKEN

To create or see what personal access tokens (PATs) you have, look here for GitHub PATs and here for GitLab PATs. You could either have one set of tokens for each computer you use, or just have one set of tokens for all computers that you rotate periodically.

General Usage

In general, all commands can be run straight from the command-line like this:

git-helper [command]

Please run with help to see more:

git-helper --help

With Plugins

As an additional enhancement, you can set each of the following commands to be a git plugin, meaning you can call them in a way that feels more git-native:

# Without plugins
git-helper clean-branches
git-helper code-request

# With plugins
git clean-branches
git code-request

Running the git-helper setup command will give you the option to set plugins up.

With Aliases

To make the commands even shorter, I recommend setting aliases. You can either set aliases through git itself, like this (only possible if you also use the plugin option):

git config --global alias.nb new-branch

And then running git nb maps to git new-branch, which through the plugin, maps to git-helper new-branch.

Or you can set the alias through your ~/.zshrc (which is my preferred method because it can make the command even shorter, and doesn't require the plugin usage). To do this, add lines like this to the ~/.zshrc file and run source ~/.zshrc:

alias gnb="git new-branch"

And then, running gnb maps to git new-branch, which again routes to git-helper new-branch.

For a full list of the git aliases I prefer to use, check out my Git Aliases gist.

Hopefully all these options makes working with git more seamless.

Commands

change-remote

This can be used when switching the owners of a GitHub repo. When you switch a username, GitHub only makes some changes for you. With this command, you no longer have to manually walk through each local repo and switch the remotes from each one into a remote with the new username.

This command will go through every directory in a directory, and see if it is a git directory. It will then ask the user if they wish to process the git directory in question. The command does not yet know if there's any changes to be made. If the user says 'yes', then it will check to see if the old username is included in the remote URL of that git directory. If it is, then the command will change the remote URL to instead point to the new username's remote URL. To run the command, run:

git-helper change-remote [oldOwner] [newOwner]

checkout-default

This command will check out the default branch of whatever repository you're currently in. It looks at what branch the origin/HEAD remote is pointed to on your local machine, versus querying GitHub/GitLab for that, so if your local machine's remotes aren't up to date or aren't formatted as expected, then this command won't work as expected. To run this command, run:

git-helper checkout-default

clean-branches

This command will bring you to the repository's default branch, git pull, git fetch -p, and will clean up your local branches on your machine by seeing which ones are existing on the remote, and updating yours accordingly. To clean your local branches, run:

git-helper clean-branches

code-request

This command can be used to handily make new GitHub/GitLab pull/merge requests from the command-line. The command uses either the GitHub REST API or GitLab API to do this, so make sure you have a ~/.git-helper/config.yml file set up in the home directory of your computer (instructions are higher in this README).

After setup is complete, you can call the command like this:

git-helper code-request

The command will provide an autogenerated code request title based on your branch name. It will separate the branch name by '_' if underscores are in the branch, or '-' if dashes are present. Then it will join the list of words together by spaces. If there's a pattern in the form of jira-123 or jira_123 in the first part of the branch name, then it'll add JIRA-123 to the first part of the code request. You can choose whether to accept this title or not. If the title's declined, you can provide your own code request title.

The command will also ask you if the default branch of the repository is the proper base branch to use. You can say whether that is correct or not, and if it's incorrect, you can give the command your chosen base branch.

The command will also ask you whether you'd like to mark the new code request as a draft or not.

If your project uses GitLab, the command will automatically set the merge request to delete the source branch upon merge. The value can later be changed for a specific MR either over the API or in the browser. The command also automatically sets the merge request to squash, and this will be the setting on the MR if the project allows, encourages, or requires squashing. If the project doesn't allow squashing at all, then that option will be voided, and the MR will not be squashed. Depending on the project's settings, the value can later be changed for a specific MR over the API or in the browser.

Then, it'll ask about code request templates. For GitHub, it'll ask the user to apply any pull request templates found at .github/pull_request_template.md, ./pull_request_template.md, or .github/PULL_REQUEST_TEMPLATE/*.md. Applying any template is optional, and a user can make an empty pull request if they desire. For GitLab, it'll ask the user to apply any merge request templates found at any .gitlab/merge_request_template.md, ./merge_request_template.md, or .gitlab/merge_request_templates/*.md. Applying any template is optional, and from the command's standpoint, a user can make an empty merge request if they desire (although GitLab may still add a merge request template if the project itself requires one). When searching for templates, the code ignores cases, so the file could be named with all capital letters or all lowercase letters.

empty-commit

For some reason, I'm always forgetting the commands to create an empty commit. So with this command, it becomes easy. The commit message of this commit will be Empty commit. To run the command, run:

git-helper empty-commit

forget-local-changes

This command will quickly and easily get rid of any local changes that are not in a commit. This command does just a git stash and git stash drop. Once you forget them, they're completely gone, so run carefully. To test it out, run:

git-helper forget-local-changes

forget-local-commits

This command is handy if you locally have a bunch of commits you wish to completely get rid of. This command basically does a hard reset to origin/HEAD. Once you forget them, they're completely gone, so run carefully. To test it out, run:

git-helper forget-local-commits

new-branch

This command is useful for making new branches in a repository on the command-line. To run the command, run:

git-helper new-branch
# OR
git-helper new-branch [optionalBranch]

The command either accepts a branch name right away or it will ask you for the name of your new branch. Make sure your input does not contain any spaces or special characters.

set-head-ref

Sets the upstream and HEAD symbolic ref to the default branch passed in:

git-helper set-head-ref [defaultBranch]

setup

See Setup.

update

See Updating Git Helper.

version

Show's the local version of Git Helper installed:

git-helper version

Migrating from the Ruby version of Git Helper

1. Uninstall Ruby's Git Helper:

   # Uninstall the gem
   gem uninstall git_helper
   
   # Remove the executable
   which git-helper
   rm -rf PATH/FROM/ABOVE
   
   # Verify it's gone by this command returning command not found
   git-helper -v

2. Install Go's Git Helper by following the instructions in Installation
3. Check Go's Git Helper is installed:

   git-helper version

4. Run the setup command (optional for Beta modes < 1.0.0, required otherwise):

   git-helper setup

5. Move forward with your day!

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Contributing

To submit a feature request, bug ticket, etc, please submit an official GitHub issue. To copy or make changes, please fork this repository. When/if you'd like to contribute back to this upstream, please create a pull request on this repository.

Please follow included Issue Template(s) and Pull Request Template(s) when creating issues or pull requests.

Security Policy

To report any security vulnerabilities, please view this repository's Security Policy.

Licensing

For information on licensing, please see LICENSE.md.

Code of Conduct

When interacting with this repository, please follow Contributor Covenant's Code of Conduct.

Releasing

To make a new release:

1. Verify main has or will have the newest version in the main.go file
2. Merge the pull request via the big green button
3. Trigger a new workflow from GitHub Actions and pass in the package version indicated in the main.go file (but include the v prefix)