rkotzeGit Mob - Co-author commits
A command-line tool for social coding
Add co-authors to commits when you collaborate on code. Use when pairing with a buddy or mobbing with your team.
- Git Mob - Co-author commits
Install
git-mob is a CLI tool, so you'll need to install the package globally.
npm i -g git-mobMacOS use Homebrew
brew install git-mobBy default git-mob will use the global config .gitmessage template to append co-authors.
Workflow / Usage
With git-mob, the primary author will always be the primary user of the computer. Set your author info in git if you haven't done so before.
$ git config --global user.name "Jane Doe"
$ git config --global user.email "jane@example.com"To keep track of co-authors git-mob uses a JSON file called .git-coauthors, and will try to find it in the following directories:
- If
GITMOB_COAUTHORS_PATHenvironment variable is set this will override any other settings. - If the current Git repository has a
.git-coauthorsfile in the root directory. - The default is the users home directory at
~/.git-coauthors.
Here's a template of its structure:
{
"coauthors": {
"<initials>": {
"name": "<name>",
"email": "<email>"
}
}
}Start by adding a few co-authors that you work with. Also see add co-author command.
$ cat <<-EOF > ~/.git-coauthors
{
"coauthors": {
"ad": {
"name": "Amy Doe",
"email": "amy@findmypast.com"
},
"bd": {
"name": "Bob Doe",
"email": "bob@findmypast.com"
}
}
}
EOFYou're ready to create your mob. Tell git-mob you're pairing with Amy by using her initials. git mob ad
$ git mob ad
Jane Doe <jane@example.com>
Amy Doe <amy@example.com>Commit like you normally would.
You should see Co-authored-by: Amy Doe <amy@example.com> appear at the end of the commit message.
Let's add Bob to the group to create a three-person mob.
$ git mob ad bd
Jane Doe <jane@example.com>
Amy Doe <amy@example.com>
Bob Doe <bob@example.com>Once you're done mobbing, switch back to developing solo.*
$ git solo
Jane Doe <jane@example.com>Selected co-authors are stored globally meaning when switching between projects your co-authors stay the same*.
*Note: If you've set a local commit template in your config then that template will be updated. However, not when you switch projects and you will see a warning. You can run git mob to update the commit template. Read more here
Add co-author from GitHub
Provide the GitHub username to generate their co-author details. The anonymous GitHub email is used. You need to enable it see config.
$ git mob rkotze
Jane Doe <jane@example.com>
Richard Kotze <10422117+rkotze@users.noreply.github.com>Custom setup
Using git commit -m setup
How to append co-authors to the message when using message flag - git commit -m "commit message"?
- Add
prepare-commit-msghook file in.git/hooksdir. See hook-examples - The hook will need to be executable
chmod +x prepare-commit-msg
prepare-commit-msg will need a script to read the co-authors, which can be done via git mob-print. See hook-examples folder for working scripts.
The command git mob-print will output to stdout the formatted co-authors.
Note: > v1.1.0 git mob --installTemplate and git mob --uninstallTemplate has been removed.
Using pre-commit to install
You can install the git hook using [pre-commit](https://pre-commit.com/). Add the following to your pre-commit-config.yaml
repos:
- repo: https://github.com/rkotze/git-mob
rev: { tag-version }
hooks:
- id: add-coauthors
stages: ['prepare-commit-msg']And install with: pre-commit install --hook-type prepare-commit-msg.
Removing the above snippet and running git commit will uninstall the pre-commit hook
Revert back to default setup
- Remove relevant scripts
prepare-commit-msgfile
Git Mob config
Git Mob config is a section in the Git config.
Use local commit template
If you are using a local commit template and want to remove the warning message then set this option to true. Only reads from the local git config.
type: Boolean, scope: local, version: 2.2.0
git config --local git-mob-config.use-local-template true
Enable GitHub author fetch
To fetch authors from GitHub you need to enable it using the config.
type: Boolean, scope: global, version: 2.3.3
git config --global git-mob-config.github-fetch true
More commands
List all co-authors
Check which co-authors you have available in your .git-coauthors file.
$ git mob --list
jd Jane Doe jane@example.com
ad Amy Doe amy@example.com
bd Bob Doe bob@example.comOverwrite the main author
Overwrite the current author which could be useful for pairing on different machines
If the current author is: Bob Doe
$ git mob -o jd ad
jd Jane Doe jane@example.com
ad Amy Doe amy@example.comNow the author has changed to Jane Doe.
Add co-author
Add a new co-author to your .git-coauthors file.
$ git add-coauthor bb "Barry Butterworth" barry@butterworth.orgSuggest co-authors
Suggest co-authors from contributors in local Git repository and add to .git-coauthors file.
Optional author filter by name or email.
$ git suggest-coauthors [author name | author email]Path to .git-coauthors
Print out path to .git-coauthors file.
git mob -pOpen co-author file: git mob -p | xargs code
Help
Find out more.
git mob -hAdd initials of current mob to your prompt
Bash
Add the initials to PS1, in ~/.bashrc
function git_initials {
local initials=$(git mob-print --initials)
if [[ -n "${initials}" ]]; then
echo " [${initials}]"
fi
}
export PS1="\$(pwd)\$(git_initials) -> "Fish
Add the following functions to .config/fish/config.fish
function git_initials --description 'Print the initials for who I am currently pairing with'
set -lx initials (git mob-print --initials)
if test -n "$initials"
printf ' [%s]' $initials
end
end
function fish_prompt
printf "%s%s ->" (pwd) (git_initials)
endMore info
Read our blog post to find out why git-mob exists: Co-author commits with Git Mob
* If you have git-duet installed, you'll need to uninstall it since it conflicts with the git-solo command.