tmp-git-clone

A visually polished CLI tool for quickly cloning git repositories to /tmp for exploration.

Features

• GitHub shorthand - rails/rails expands to https://github.com/rails/rails
• Shallow clone (--depth 1) for fast downloads
• Branch support - clone specific branches with -b
• Organized storage at /tmp/tmp-git-clone/{owner}/{repo}
• Beautiful UI with animated spinners and progress tracking
• Real-time progress parsing (Counting → Compressing → Receiving)
• Auto-cleanup - re-cloning removes existing directory first
• Copy to clipboard - automatically copy the cloned path
• Clone history - track recently cloned repositories
• Config file - set default behaviors
• Quiet mode for scripting

Installation

Quick Install

curl -fsSL https://raw.githubusercontent.com/wdavidturner/tmp-git-clone/main/install.sh | bash

This installs to ~/.local/share/tmp-git-clone and creates a symlink at ~/.local/bin/tmp-git-clone.

Make sure ~/.local/bin is in your PATH:

export PATH="$HOME/.local/bin:$PATH"

Manual Install

# Clone this repo
git clone https://github.com/wdavidturner/tmp-git-clone.git
cd tmp-git-clone

# Install dependencies and build
npm install
npm run build

# Link globally
npm link

Uninstall

curl -fsSL https://raw.githubusercontent.com/wdavidturner/tmp-git-clone/main/uninstall.sh | bash

Usage

# Clone using GitHub shorthand
tmp-git-clone rails/rails

# Clone a repository with full URL
tmp-git-clone https://github.com/rails/rails

# SSH URLs work too
tmp-git-clone git@github.com:rails/rails.git

# Clone a specific branch
tmp-git-clone -b 7-2-stable rails/rails

# Custom clone depth
tmp-git-clone --depth 10 rails/rails

# Copy path to clipboard after clone
tmp-git-clone -c rails/rails

# Quiet mode (outputs only the path)
tmp-git-clone -q rails/rails

Output

The tool provides a clean, boxed output with real-time progress:

╭────────────────────────────────────────────────╮
│                                                │
│  rails/rails                                   │
│  github.com                                    │
│                                                │
╰────────────────────────────────────────────────╯

  ⠋ Receiving 67%  12.4 MiB

╭────────────────────────────────────────────────╮
│                                                │
│  ✔ Cloned successfully                         │
│                                                │
│  → /tmp/tmp-git-clone/rails/rails              │
│                                                │
╰────────────────────────────────────────────────╯

AI Coding Assistant Integration

This tool pairs well with AI coding assistants. Slash commands are included for Claude Code, Codex, and GitHub Copilot.

Claude Code

Copy the included command to your Claude commands directory:

cp claude-clone-git-repo.md ~/.claude/commands/clone-git-repo.md

Auto-Approve Permissions (Optional)

To skip permission prompts, add this to your ~/.claude/settings.json:

{
  "permissions": {
    "allow": [
      "Bash(tmp-git-clone:*)",
      "Glob(/tmp/tmp-git-clone/**)",
      "Read(/tmp/tmp-git-clone/**)"
    ]
  }
}

Usage:

/clone-git-repo rails/rails

Codex (OpenAI)

Copy the included command to your Codex commands directory:

cp codex-clone-git-repo.md ~/.codex/commands/clone-git-repo.md

Usage:

/clone-git-repo rails/rails

GitHub Copilot

For Copilot Chat in VS Code, add the instructions to your workspace settings or use as a custom instruction:

# View the prompt template
cat copilot-clone-git-repo.md

Then in Copilot Chat, you can reference it or paste the instructions into your custom instructions settings.

Usage in Copilot Chat:

Clone and explore rails/rails using tmp-git-clone

---

All commands will:

1. Clone the repository
2. Read the README
3. Show the directory structure
4. Provide a summary of the project

Options

Option	Description
-d, --depth <n>	Clone depth (default: 1)
-b, --branch <name>	Branch to clone
-c, --copy	Copy path to clipboard after clone
-q, --quiet	Suppress output, print only the cloned path
-V, --version	Show version number
-h, --help	Show help

Commands

Command	Description
tmp-git-clone list	List all cloned repositories in /tmp/tmp-git-clone
tmp-git-clone clean	Remove all cloned repositories (use --yes to skip confirmation)
tmp-git-clone history	Show clone history (use --clear to clear)
tmp-git-clone config	Show current configuration
tmp-git-clone upgrade	Upgrade to the latest version

Examples

# List all clones
tmp-git-clone list

# Clean all clones (with confirmation)
tmp-git-clone clean

# Clean all clones (skip confirmation)
tmp-git-clone clean --yes

# Show clone history
tmp-git-clone history

# Clear clone history
tmp-git-clone history --clear

# Show config
tmp-git-clone config

# Upgrade to latest version
tmp-git-clone upgrade

Configuration

Configuration is stored at ~/.tmp-git-clone/config.json. Create this file to set default behaviors:

{
  "copy": true,
  "depth": 1,
  "defaultBranch": null
}

Setting	Type	Description
copy	boolean	Always copy path to clipboard after clone
depth	number	Default clone depth
defaultBranch	string | null	Default branch to clone

CLI flags always override config file settings.

History

Clone history is stored at ~/.tmp-git-clone/history.json. The tool tracks the last 50 cloned repositories with timestamps.

Why /tmp?

• Fast SSD-backed storage on most systems
• Auto-cleaned on reboot
• Keeps your workspace uncluttered
• Perfect for quick code exploration

Requirements

• Node.js 18+
• Git

License

MIT