gitspaces - A git development workspace manager

Coming in Spring 2024

What is GitSpaces

If you're familiar with ClearCase Views, think of GitSpaces as their counterpart for Git projects. If not, you're in for a treat.

GitSpaces manages multiple independent clones of a project for you so you can switch between them as you work on new features or bugs.

Instead of using git clone url/to/repo-abc use gitspaces create url/to/repo-abc.git and you will get

~/.../projects
 └── repo-abc
     ├── __GITSPACES_PROJECT__              
     ├── space-1/
     │   └── ... repo cloned here
     ├── space-2-...
     ├── space-N/
     └── .zzz         # extra clone copies for different tasks
         ├── zzz-0/
         │   └── ... and cloned here
         ├── zzz-1/
         │   └── ... and here here
         ├── zzz-...
         └── zzz-N/

Where you will be able to work independently on features, bugs, etc

Commands

The gitspaces command

USAGE

gitspaces COMMAND

or simplify your life with alias gs=gitspaces.

WHERE

COMMAND	Description
setup	Helps user setup config.yaml and 'cd' shell wrappers.
create	Creates a new GitSpace project from a git repo url
switch	Switch spaces. Default, same as gitspaces w/o a command.
rename	Rename a current gitspace
sleep	Archive a gitspace and wakes up another one
code	Launches Visual Studio Code Workspace for the space

Installation

gitspaces is implemented in Go, so

1. Install Go

2. Install GitSpaces
   

   $ go install github.com/davfive/gitspaces/v2@latest
     -> installs to ~/go/bin/gitspaces
   
   $ gitspaces setup
     -> run once to install .gitspaces config directory and start user setup
   

Initial Setup and Use

Run gitspaces setup to be walked through first-time configuration.

If you run any gitspaces <cmd> and your environment isn't setup properly, gitspaces setup setup will automatically run.

GitSpaces configuration directory is created on first run.

Step 1 - Configure where you keep your git projects

GitSpaces config.yaml file contains a ProjectPaths field. This field defines a list of paths to your project directories.

Instructions for setting up ProjectPaths field is in the config file.

Windows:

%USERPROFILE%/.gitspaces/config.yaml

Mac/Linux

`MacOS:   ~/.gitspaces/config.yaml`

Step 2 - Configure the gitspaces shell wrapper

Some gitspaces commands change the current working directory of the user. To accomplish this, gitspaces is run through a shell (bash / powershell) wrapper. Once you've setup your shell wrapper, restart your terminal and start using GitSpaces.

Bash/Zsh (Mac/Linux/Windows)

Copy the following lines into your .bashrc or .zshrc file.

. ~/.gitspaces/gitspaces.function.sh
alias gs=gitspaces  # optional

PowerShell (Mac/Windows)

Copy the following lines into your PowerShell $PROFILE

For more information, see PowerShell > About Profiles

Copy the following to your $PROFILE

. $HOME/.gitspaces/gitspaces.scriptblock.ps1
Set-Alias -Name gs -Value gitspaces           # optional

Step 3 - Create your first GitSpaces project

Open a terminal and run

gitspaces create https://github.com/davfive/gitspaces -n 3

This will create a new GitSpaces project with three clones of this gitspaces project. By default all spaces are "asleep". You will be asked to wake one up and give it a name.