forge

forge is a simple utility to clone and open local and remote git repos.

forge is primarily designed for my personal workflow, but might be useful to others who use VSCode, work on multiple GitHub projects, and use VSCode's Remote SSH extension. There are certainly many bugs.

Installation

Run:

$ go install github.com/twpayne/forge/cmd/forge@latest
$ go install github.com/twpayne/forge/cmd/forge-gui@latest

Configuration

Create ~/.config/forge/forge.toml containing something like:

user = "YOUR_GITHUB_USERNAME"
editor = "code"
forge = "github.com"
sourceDir = "ABSOLUTE_PATH_TO_YOUR_HOME_DIRECTORY/src"
[remote.my-server]
    hostname = "my-server.example.com"
    sourceDir = "ABSOLUTE_PATH_TO_YOUR_HOME_DIRECTORY_ON_THIS_MACHINE/src"
[alias.my-project]
    repoDir = "PATH_TO_SOME_OTHER_DIR/my-project"

Command line interface

forge clones or creates a repo if it does not exist and opens the working copy in either VSCode or a shell.

forge [flags] repo

forge [flags] [[forge/]user/]repo[@remote]|alias

By default, forge will clone the repo if it does not already exist. Pass the -c flag to create the repo instead of creating it.

Other flags control the action taken:

flag	Action
none	Open the working copy in VSCode
-s	Open the working copy in a shell
-w	Open the project's repo in your web browser
-d	Open the project's documentation on pkg.go.dev in your web browser

The syntax of repo is:

[[forge/]user/]repo[@remote]|alias

forge defaults to github.com, user defaults to your GitHub username as specified in the configuration file. The magic user value of _ (a single underscore) tells forge to find the unique repo in your source directory with the given name. _ is primarily useful for not having to type the full username when you already know the repo name.

@remote allows you specify the machine for VSCodes' Remote SSH extension. remote must be one of the remotes specified in your configuration file.

A single alias refers to an alias specified in your configuration file.

Personal examples with my config file:

repo argument	Computed repo
chezmoi	github.com/twpayne/chezmoi on the local machine
google/renameio	github.com/google/renameio on the local machine
_/renameio	github.com/google/renameio on the local machine
go-geos@legion	github.com/twpayne/go-geos on the machine legion

Graphical user interface

forge-gui is a simple GUI using Fyne. It is designed to be launched from a shortcut key (I use CapsLock+J with this Hammerspoon config).

Shortcuts:

Key	Action
Escape	Quit
Enter or Alt+C	Open the working copy in VSCode
Alt+S	Open the working copy in a shell
Alt+W	Open the project's repo in your web browser
Alt+P	Open the project's documentation on pkg.go.dev in your web browser

License

MIT