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
• Ruby 1.8.6 or newer

Homebrew

Installing on OS X is easiest with Homebrew:

$ brew install hub

rake install from source

This is the preferred installation method when no package manager that supports hub is available:

# Download or clone the project from GitHub:
$ git clone git://github.com/github/hub.git
$ cd hub
$ rake install

On a Unix-based OS, this installs under PREFIX, which is /usr/local by default.

Now you should be ready to roll:

$ hub version
git version 1.7.6
hub version 1.8.3

Windows "Git Bash" (msysGit) note

Avoid aliasing hub as git due to the fact that msysGit automatically configures your prompt to include git information, and you want to avoid slowing that down. See Is your shell prompt slow?

RubyGems

Though not recommended, hub can also be installed as a RubyGem:

$ gem install hub

(It's not recommended for casual use because of the RubyGems startup time. See this gist for information.)

Standalone via RubyGems

$ gem install hub
$ hub hub standalone > ~/bin/hub && chmod +x ~/bin/hub

This installs a standalone version which doesn't require RubyGems to run, so it's faster.

Help! It's slow!

Is hub noticeably slower than plain git?

That is inconvenient, especially if you want to alias hub as git. Few things you can try:

• Find out which ruby is used for the hub executable:

  head -1 `which hub`
  

• That ruby should be speedy. Time it with:

  time /usr/bin/ruby -e0
  #=> it should be below 0.01 s total
  

• Check that Ruby isn't loading something shady:

  echo $RUBYOPT
  

• Check your GC settings

General recommendation: you should change hub's shebang line to run with system ruby (usually /usr/bin/ruby) instead of currently active ruby (/usr/bin/env ruby). Also, Ruby 1.8 is speedier than 1.9.

Is your shell prompt slow?

Does your prompt show git information? Hub may be slowing down your prompt.

This can happen if you've aliased hub as git. This is fine when you use git manually, but may be unacceptable for your prompt, which doesn't need hub features anyway!

The solution is to identify which shell functions are calling git, and replace each occurrence of that with command git. This is a shell feature that enables you to call a command directly and skip aliases and functions wrapping it.

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 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 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".

HTTPS instead of git protocol

If you prefer using the HTTPS protocol for GitHub repositories instead of the git protocol for read and ssh for write, you can set "hub.protocol" to "https".

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

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

Meta

• Home: https://github.com/github/hub
• Bugs: https://github.com/github/hub/issues
• Gem: https://rubygems.org/gems/hub
• Authors: https://github.com/github/hub/contributors

Prior art

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

• eg
• github-gem