git + hub = github

hub is a command line tool that wraps git in order to extend it with extra features and commands that make working with GitHub easier.

$ hub clone rtomayko/tilt

# expands to:
$ git clone git://github.com/rtomayko/tilt.git

hub is best aliased as git, so you can type $ git <command> in the shell and get all the usual hub features. See "Aliasing" below.

Installation

Dependencies:

• git 1.7.3 or newer

2.x

Starting from 2.2.0, hub is powered by Go. It should maintain a high backward compatibility with 1.x. Note that 2.x is in preview.

Homebrew

hub 2.x can be installed through Homebrew. Since it's in preview, you need to compile from HEAD:

$ brew install --HEAD hub

Standalone

hub 2.x can be easily installed as an executable. Download the latest compiled binaries and put it anywhere in your executable path.

Source

To install hub 2.x from source, you need to have a Go development environment, version 1.4 or better:

$ git clone https://github.com/github/hub.git
$ cd hub
$ ./script/build
$ cp hub YOUR_BIN_PATH

1.x

Homebrew

Installing on OS X is easiest with Homebrew:

$ brew install hub

Now you should be ready to roll:

$ hub version
git version 1.7.6
hub version 1.8.3

Aliasing

Using hub feels best when it's aliased as git. This is not dangerous; your normal git commands will all work. hub merely adds some sugar.

hub alias displays instructions for the current shell. With the -s flag, it outputs a script suitable for eval.

You should place this command in your .bash_profile or other startup script:

eval "$(hub alias -s)"

Shell tab-completion

hub repository contains tab-completion scripts for bash and zsh. These scripts complement existing completion scripts that ship with git.

• hub bash completion
• hub zsh completion

Commands

Assuming you've aliased hub as git, the following commands now have superpowers:

git clone

$ git clone schacon/ticgit
> git clone git://github.com/schacon/ticgit.git

$ git clone -p schacon/ticgit
> git clone git@github.com:schacon/ticgit.git

$ git clone resque
> git clone git@github.com/YOUR_USER/resque.git

git remote add

$ git remote add rtomayko
> git remote add rtomayko git://github.com/rtomayko/CURRENT_REPO.git

$ git remote add -p rtomayko
> git remote add rtomayko git@github.com:rtomayko/CURRENT_REPO.git

$ git remote add origin
> git remote add origin git://github.com/YOUR_USER/CURRENT_REPO.git

git fetch

$ git fetch mislav
> git remote add mislav git://github.com/mislav/REPO.git
> git fetch mislav

$ git fetch mislav,xoebus
> git remote add mislav ...
> git remote add xoebus ...
> git fetch --multiple mislav xoebus

git cherry-pick

$ git cherry-pick http://github.com/mislav/REPO/commit/SHA
> git remote add -f mislav git://github.com/mislav/REPO.git
> git cherry-pick SHA

$ git cherry-pick mislav@SHA
> git remote add -f mislav git://github.com/mislav/CURRENT_REPO.git
> git cherry-pick SHA

$ git cherry-pick mislav@SHA
> git fetch mislav
> git cherry-pick SHA

git am, git apply

$ git am https://github.com/defunkt/hub/pull/55
[ downloads patch via API ]
> git am /tmp/55.patch

$ git am --ignore-whitespace https://github.com/davidbalbert/hub/commit/fdb9921
[ downloads patch via API ]
> git am --ignore-whitespace /tmp/fdb9921.patch

$ git apply https://gist.github.com/8da7fb575debd88c54cf
[ downloads patch via API ]
> git apply /tmp/gist-8da7fb575debd88c54cf.txt

git fork

$ git fork
[ repo forked on GitHub ]
> git remote add -f YOUR_USER git@github.com:YOUR_USER/CURRENT_REPO.git

git pull-request

# while on a topic branch called "feature":
$ git pull-request
[ opens text editor to edit title & body for the request ]
[ opened pull request on GitHub for "YOUR_USER:feature" ]

# explicit title, pull base & head:
$ git pull-request -m "Implemented feature X" -b defunkt:master -h mislav:feature

git checkout

$ git checkout https://github.com/defunkt/hub/pull/73
> git remote add -f -t feature mislav git://github.com/mislav/hub.git
> git checkout --track -B mislav-feature mislav/feature

$ git checkout https://github.com/defunkt/hub/pull/73 custom-branch-name

git merge

$ git merge https://github.com/defunkt/hub/pull/73
> git fetch git://github.com/mislav/hub.git +refs/heads/feature:refs/remotes/mislav/feature
> git merge mislav/feature --no-ff -m 'Merge pull request #73 from mislav/feature...'

git create

$ git create
[ repo created on GitHub ]
> git remote add origin git@github.com:YOUR_USER/CURRENT_REPO.git

# with description:
$ git create -d 'It shall be mine, all mine!'

$ git create recipes
[ repo created on GitHub ]
> git remote add origin git@github.com:YOUR_USER/recipes.git

$ git create sinatra/recipes
[ repo created in GitHub organization ]
> git remote add origin git@github.com:sinatra/recipes.git

git init

$ git init -g
> git init
> git remote add origin git@github.com:YOUR_USER/REPO.git

git push

$ git push origin,staging,qa bert_timeout
> git push origin bert_timeout
> git push staging bert_timeout
> git push qa bert_timeout

git browse

$ git browse
> open https://github.com/YOUR_USER/CURRENT_REPO

$ git browse -- commit/SHA
> open https://github.com/YOUR_USER/CURRENT_REPO/commit/SHA

$ git browse -- issues
> open https://github.com/YOUR_USER/CURRENT_REPO/issues

$ git browse -- issues/10
> open https://github.com/YOUR_USER/CURRENT_REPO/issues/10

$ git browse schacon/ticgit
> open https://github.com/schacon/ticgit

$ git browse schacon/ticgit commit/SHA
> open https://github.com/schacon/ticgit/commit/SHA

$ git browse resque
> open https://github.com/YOUR_USER/resque

$ git browse resque network
> open https://github.com/YOUR_USER/resque/network

git compare

$ git compare refactor
> open https://github.com/CURRENT_REPO/compare/refactor

$ git compare 1.0..1.1
> open https://github.com/CURRENT_REPO/compare/1.0...1.1

$ git compare -u fix
> (https://github.com/CURRENT_REPO/compare/fix)

$ git compare other-user patch
> open https://github.com/other-user/REPO/compare/patch

git submodule

$ git submodule add wycats/bundler vendor/bundler
> git submodule add git://github.com/wycats/bundler.git vendor/bundler

$ git submodule add -p wycats/bundler vendor/bundler
> git submodule add git@github.com:wycats/bundler.git vendor/bundler

$ git submodule add -b ryppl --name pip ryppl/pip vendor/pip
> git submodule add -b ryppl --name pip git://github.com/ryppl/pip.git vendor/pip

git ci-status

$ git ci-status [commit]
> (prints CI state of commit and exits with appropriate code)
> One of: success (0), error (1), failure (1), pending (2), no status (3)

git help

$ git help
> (improved git help)
$ git help hub
> (hub man page)

Configuration

GitHub OAuth authentication

Hub will prompt for GitHub username & password the first time it needs to access the API and exchange it for an OAuth token, which it saves in "~/.config/hub".

To avoid being prompted, use GITHUB_USER and GITHUB_PASSWORD environment variables.

HTTPS instead of git protocol

If you prefer the HTTPS protocol for GitHub repositories, you can set "hub.protocol" to "https". This will affect clone, fork, remote add and other operations that expand references to GitHub repositories as full URLs that otherwise use git and ssh protocols.

"hub.protocol" only applies when the "OWNER/REPO" shorthand is used instead of a full git URL.

# default behavior
$ git clone defunkt/repl
< git clone >

# opt into HTTPS:
$ git config --global hub.protocol https
$ git clone defunkt/repl
< https clone >

GitHub Enterprise

By default, hub will only work with repositories that have remotes which point to github.com. GitHub Enterprise hosts need to be whitelisted to configure hub to treat such remotes same as github.com:

$ git config --global --add hub.host my.git.org

The default host for commands like init and clone is still github.com, but this can be affected with the GITHUB_HOST environment variable:

$ GITHUB_HOST=my.git.org git clone myproject

Meta

• Home: https://github.com/github/hub
• Bugs: https://github.com/github/hub/issues
• Authors: https://github.com/github/hub/contributors

Prior art

These projects also aim to either improve git or make interacting with GitHub simpler:

• hub in Ruby (previous implementation)
• eg
• github-gem