git-cache-clone

git-cache-clone is a drop-in wrapper for git clone that accelerates repository cloning by using a local cache. It's designed to optimize CI pipelines and repetitive local workflows by avoiding redundant network fetches.

Features

• Fast git clone via --reference
• Subcommands for clone, clean, refresh, add, info
• Handles concurrent operations on cache entries via file locks
• Managed cache directory
• Safe and explicit cache cleanup
• URL normalization to avoid duplicate cache entries

Installation

pip3 install git-cache-clone

Usage

Various subcommands are available. When no subcommand is provided, clone is assumed.

• git cache clone - Clone a repository using the cache; adds to cache if missing
• git cache add - Add a repository to the cache manually
• git cache clean - Remove cached repositories
• git cache refresh - Run git fetch on cached repositories
• git cache info - Show details on cache contents

By default,

Note on Argument Parsing

git-cache-clone accepts its own options and subcommands. To pass arguments directly to the underlying git command, you must use --. Everything after -- is forwarded verbatim.

✅ Correct usage:

git cache clone <url> -- --depth=1
git cache refresh <url> -- --unshallow

❌ Incorrect usage:

git cache clone --depth=1 <url>
git cache refresh --unshallow <url>

Configuration

Run git cache -h to see all available subcommands and their options.

Some widely used configurations can be set via environment variables and git config:

Env Variable	Git Config Key	Type	Valid Values / Description	Default
GIT_CACHE_ROOT_DIR	gitcache.rootdir	path	working directory of git-cache-clone	~/.local/share/git-cache
GIT_CACHE_USE_LOCK	gitcache.uselock	bool	true, 1, y, yes	true
GIT_CACHE_LOCK_TIMEOUT	gitcache.locktimeout	number	timeout in seconds to wait for a lock	-1
GIT_CACHE_CLONE_MODE	gitcache.clonemode	string	bare, mirror	bare
GIT_CACHE_METADATA_STORE_MODE	gitcache.metadatastoremode	string	sqlite, json, none	sqlite

⚙️ Option Precedence

When resolving configuration values, git-cache-clone applies the following precedence, from highest to lowest:

1. Command-line arguments

2. Environment variables

3. Git configuration (git config)

4. Built-in defaults

Requirements

• Python 3.6+
• Git installed and available in PATH

License

MIT License