gitman

name	gitman
description	Route ALL version control through gitman (jj + colocated git). Never run raw jj/git.

Gitman — version control for this repo

Run every version-control action through gitman (inside the devenv shell). Raw jj/git edits break canonicity and force a gitman reconcile.

Scope & coordination

gitman owns version control only. For cross-phase, cross-manager ordering across the repo's whole lifecycle (spec → scaffold → change → verify → save → docs), defer to the repoman skill — the repoman entrypoint sequences the managers and routes the VC steps here. Within version control, gitman is authoritative.

Bootstrapping a repo

gitman init --colocate is the one-command front door: it colocates jj onto this directory's git — adopting an existing .git (importing its history, keeping uncommitted work on @) or creating a fresh one — and then freezes trunk. Pick the path by repo state:

• Existing git repo with history (e.g. an "Initial commit" + uncommitted edits):

  gitman init --colocate --trunk main     # adopts the .git; trunk reuses the existing branch
  gitman start <name>                      # adopts the uncommitted work into a lane
  gitman save -m "<message>"
  

  No seed needed — trunk already has a commit.

• Fresh / empty repo (no commits yet):

  gitman init --colocate --trunk main      # creates the colocated git + trunk bookmark at @
  gitman seed -m "Initial commit"          # describes the working copy as trunk's first commit
  

  seed is one-shot and refuses once trunk has any history.

(Without --colocate, gitman init assumes the workspace is already colocated; if it isn't, it tells you to colocate first.)

The lane loop

A lane is one unit of work: a named bookmark (= git branch) on trunk, kept linear.

gitman start <name>         # begin a lane (add --workspace to isolate it in its own dir)
gitman start <T/api>        # STACK a lane on `T`: a `/`-path name's base IS its name-parent
gitman subtask <leaf>       # fan out `<current-lane>/<leaf>` (≡ `start <cur>/<leaf>`) — decompose a task
gitman subtask <leaf> --workspace   # …in its OWN workspace dir, for a parallel agent to work it
gitman switch <lane>        # resume a parked lane: move @ back onto an existing lane's change
gitman split --paths <sel> --into <lane>   # carve entangled paths into a second sibling lane
# ...edit files...
gitman save -m "<message>"  # describe the current change
gitman status               # see trunk + the lane TREE (a stacked lane is indented, shows `↳ on <base>`)
gitman sync                 # rebase this lane onto its base (parent lane, or local trunk)
gitman publish              # push the lane (branch = lane name); verify hook runs first
gitman land [<lane>...]     # fold lane(s) into their base (parent lane, or trunk), retire the lane(s)
gitman land --all           # fold the WHOLE forest bottom-up (child→parent→trunk) in one command
gitman abandon [<lane>]     # discard a lane (add --recursive to tear down its whole subtree)

Decomposing a task into a tree — the /-path name IS the structure (fractal lanes). A lane name may be a /-path: T, T/api, T/api/handler. A lane's base is its name-parent (T/api stacks on T) — derived purely from the name, so the tree is always explicit. start T/api refuses if T isn't a live lane (gitman start T first); a flat name (no /) roots on trunk as before. gitman subtask <leaf> is the ergonomic fan-out: while on T, subtask api creates T/api stacked on T, carrying T's tree. land <child> folds the child into its base (the parent lane advances); a base with a live child refuses to land/abandon until the child is folded in ("fold the child in first"). Land bottom-up: children before their parents — or gitman land --all to fold the whole forest bottom-up (child→parent→trunk) in one command, each level its own undo checkpoint. To discard a whole branch of the tree, gitman abandon <node> --recursive tears it down bottom-up (child→parent), each node its own undo checkpoint; a workspace an agent may still be in is forgotten but its dir is kept, not deleted. --onto <lane> is retained only as an optional assertion that must equal the name-parent.

Parallel agents — fan out with --workspace, fold in from your own workspace. subtask <leaf> --workspace (or start <T/api> --workspace) puts a child lane in its own .worktrees/<lane>/ dir, so N agents work N subtasks with no contention over @; the report prints the cd target. Editing is lock-free and parallel; only the brief land/sync/start transactions serialize (on one shared repo lock). Fold in from the lane's own workspace (cd there, gitman land): gitman refuses to fold a lane whose @ is live in another workspace — it won't yank a dir out from under a working agent (land/land --all name it and skip it; land it from its own dir, or park it first). Landing one child advances the shared parent, leaving siblings N behind — each catches up on its own schedule with gitman sync (gitman never reaches into another workspace's @). A workspace whose @ was rewritten out from under it (a sibling's fold, a pull) shows stale; gitman reconcile from inside it refreshes it.

switch is the lane-navigation verb: when @ leaves a lane without ending it (a sibling start in the same workspace stranded yours; you landed one of several lanes), gitman switch <lane> puts @ back on it. It refuses to strand an unnamed dirty @ (save/start/abandon it first) and reports cleanly if the lane is checked out in another --workspace (cd there to resume).

split is the lane-partition verb: when two concerns entangle in one draft change, gitman split --paths <sel>… --into <new-lane> [-m <desc>] carves the selected paths onto a new sibling lane on trunk and leaves the remainder on the original — both independently landable. @ stays on the remainder; continue on the carved one with gitman switch <new-lane>.

Trunk ↔ origin (local-authored model)

Trunk is local-authored: it advances only via land, and gitman is the sole writer of trunk SHAs. Origin is a mirror you reach by fast-forward push; pull integrates genuine origin moves.

gitman remote add <url>     # bootstrap a remote (in-process; never touches git HEAD)
gitman push                 # fast-forward local trunk → origin (refuses non-FF → `gitman pull`)
gitman pull                 # integrate a moved origin/<trunk> (rebases your un-pushed lands; never drops work)
gitman untrack <path>       # stop tracking a machine-local file (gitignore + drop from the tree)

gitman push --reset-origin deliberately overwrites divergent origin residue (lease-safe; rare — for migrating a repo that already carries re-hash-twin residue).

Safety net

• gitman undo reverts the last intent (whole-intent, via jj's op-log). gitman undo --list shows recent ops; gitman undo --op <id> restores any of them.
• gitman resolve [--list] surfaces conflicts. Conflicts are not blocking — keep working and resolve later (jj records conflicts in commits).
• gitman reconcile is the one recovery path when status says OFF-CANONICAL: it adopts stray changes into lanes (or --abandon discards them).

Versioning

gitman version                       # show current version
gitman version bump <major|minor|patch>
gitman release [<level>|--version X.Y.Z]   # (bump →) tag vX.Y.Z → push tag

This repo's version lives at: {version_location}

Exit codes

0 ok · 1 a VC decision is needed (conflict / push rejected / verify blocked / off-canonical) · 2 infra/config · 3 invalid usage. Pass --json for structured output.