git-dash

A fast TUI dashboard for discovering and managing multiple Git repositories from a single interface.

Features

• 🔍 Automatic Discovery: Recursively scans directories for Git repositories
• 📊 Rich Status View: 7-column table showing repository state at a glance
• ⚡ Parallel Operations: Fast status fetching using concurrent threads
• 🎯 Safe Actions: Remote validation and confirmation prompts for push/pull
• 📈 Progress Indicators: Real-time progress bar during repository scanning
• 🐛 Debug Logging: Optional detailed logging for troubleshooting
• ✅ Well Tested: 17 unit and integration tests

Installation

Homebrew (macOS)

# Add the tap
brew tap jvm/tap

# Install (or in one command)
brew install jvm/tap/git-dash

From Source

cargo install --path .

From crates.io

cargo install git-dash

Build and Run

Using Just (recommended):

# Install just
brew install just  # macOS
# or
cargo install just

# Common commands
just run           # Run from current directory
just debug         # Run with debug logging
just test          # Run all tests
just check         # Run all quality checks
just build         # Build release binary
just install       # Install locally

Using Cargo directly:

# Run from current directory
cargo run

# Run with debug logging
cargo run -- --debug

# Scan a specific directory
cargo run -- ~/repos

# Release build for better performance
cargo build --release
./target/release/git-dash

Usage

git-dash [OPTIONS] [PATH]

ARGS:
    path    Optional directory to scan (defaults to current directory)

OPTIONS:
    -d, --debug    Enable debug logging to git-dash-debug.log
    -h, --help     Print help information

Display Columns

The main view shows a table with the following columns:

1. Repository: Name of the repository
2. Branch: Current branch (or "DETACHED" for detached HEAD)
3. Dirty: Working tree status (clean/dirty with color coding)
4. Ahead/Behind: Commits ahead/behind upstream (+2/-1 format)
5. Changes: Summary of changes by type (M:2 A:1 D:1 format)
6. Remote: Simplified remote URL (e.g., github.com/user/repo)
7. Last Fetch: Time since last fetch (5m, 2h, 3d format)

Keybindings

Navigation

• j / k or ↓ / ↑: Move selection up/down
• PageDown / PageUp: Jump 10 repositories at a time

Actions

• p: Pull selected repository (prompts for confirmation)
• u: Push selected repository (prompts for confirmation)
• r: Refresh status for all repositories

Confirmation Prompts

• y: Confirm action
• n or Esc: Cancel action

Exit

• q: Quit application
• Ctrl+C: Force quit

Features in Detail

Repository Discovery

• Recursively scans the specified directory for .git folders or files
• Handles both regular repositories and worktrees/submodules (gitdir files)
• Stops at nested repositories (doesn't traverse into subdirectories of found repos)
• Shows animated progress bar during scanning

Status Information

• Parses Git's porcelain v2 format for accurate status information
• Displays change types: Modified (M), Added (A), Deleted (D), Untracked (?)
• Simplifies remote URLs for better readability
• Shows human-readable last fetch timestamps
• Inline error messages when Git operations fail

Safety Features

• Validates remote configuration before attempting push/pull
• Requires explicit confirmation (y/n) for all network operations
• Fast-forward only pulls to prevent accidental merge commits
• Timeouts for long-running Git operations (30s for push/pull, 5s for status)

Performance

• Parallel status fetching: All repositories checked concurrently
• Two-phase scanning: 40% for discovery, 60% for parallel status
• Non-blocking UI: All Git operations run in background worker thread
• Optimized porcelain parsing for minimal overhead

Debug Logging

Enable debug logging to troubleshoot issues or understand performance:

cargo run -- --debug ~/repos

Debug logs include:

• Timestamp with millisecond precision
• Repository scan progress
• Git command execution times
• Success/failure status for all operations
• Performance metrics for status fetching

Logs are written to git-dash-debug.log in the current directory.

Testing

Run the test suite:

cargo test

The project includes:

• 14 unit tests in src/status.rs (parsing, formatting, URL simplification)
• 3 integration tests in tests/repo_discovery.rs (discovery, nested repos, gitdir files)

Development

Requirements

• Rust 1.92.0 or later (specified in rust-toolchain.toml)
• Just command runner (optional but recommended)

Quality Checks

Before committing, run:

just check  # Format, lint, test, and build

Or individually:

cargo fmt              # Format code
cargo clippy --all-targets --all-features  # Lint
cargo test             # Run tests
cargo build --release  # Build

Release

See RELEASE.md for the full release checklist and workflow.

Optional Tools

cargo-deny - Check for security vulnerabilities and license issues:

cargo install cargo-deny
cargo deny check  # or: just deny

cargo-watch - Auto-rebuild on file changes:

cargo install cargo-watch
cargo watch -x test  # or: just watch-test

Contributing

See CONTRIBUTING.md for development guidelines.

License

Licensed under the MIT License.

Copyright (c) 2025 Jose Mocito