simple-git

What is simple-git?

The simple-git npm package is a light-weight interface for running git commands in any node.js application. It provides a chainable git API for node and supports TypeScript types.

What are simple-git's main functionalities?

Checking out branches

This feature allows you to checkout different branches within your git repository.

const simpleGit = require('simple-git');
const git = simpleGit();
git.checkout('some-branch-name');

Pulling from a remote repository

This feature is used to pull the latest changes from a remote repository.

const simpleGit = require('simple-git');
const git = simpleGit();
git.pull('origin', 'master');

Committing changes

This feature allows you to stage changes and commit them to your local repository.

const simpleGit = require('simple-git');
const git = simpleGit();
git.add('./*').commit('Commit message');

Pushing to a remote repository

This feature enables you to push your committed changes to a remote repository.

const simpleGit = require('simple-git');
const git = simpleGit();
git.push('origin', 'master');

Listing remote repositories

This feature allows you to list all the remote repositories your local repo is connected to.

const simpleGit = require('simple-git');
const git = simpleGit();
git.getRemotes(true).then(remotes => console.log(remotes));

Other packages similar to simple-git

nodegit

NodeGit is a more comprehensive Git library for Node.js, providing a 1-to-1 mapping of Git concepts. It is more complex and has a steeper learning curve compared to simple-git, but it offers more detailed control over the Git operations.

isomorphic-git

Isomorphic-git is a pure JavaScript implementation of Git that works in both Node.js and browser environments. It is similar to simple-git but can be used for front-end projects as well, making it more versatile in different environments.

gitty

Gitty is another simple Git command wrapper for Node.js. It has a simpler API than simple-git but is not as actively maintained and lacks some of the more advanced features found in simple-git.

README

Simple Git

A light weight interface for running git commands in any node.js application.

Installation

Easiest through npm: npm install simple-git

Dependencies

Relies on git already having been installed on the system, and that it can be called using the command git.

Usage

Include into your app using:

var simpleGit = require('simple-git')( workingDirPath );

where the workingDirPath is optional, defaulting to the current directory.

Use simpleGit by chaining any of its functions together. Each function accepts an optional final argument which will be called when that step has been completed. When it is called it has two arguments - firstly an error object (or null when no error occurred) and secondly the data generated by that call.

init(bare, handlerFn) initialize a repository, optional bare parameter makes intialized repository bare.

.clone(repoPath, localPath, handlerFn) clone a remote repo at repoPath to a local directory at localPath

.diff(options, handlerFn) get the diff of the current repo compared to the last commit with a set of options supplied as a string

.diff(handlerFn) get the diff for all file in the current repo compared to the last commit

.pull(remote, branch, handlerFn) pull all updates from the repo ('origin'/'master')

.fetch(remote, branch, handlerFn) update the local working copy database with changes from a remote repo

.fetch(handlerFn) update the local working copy database with changes from the default remote repo and branch

.tags(handlerFn) list all tags

.addTag(name, handlerFn) adds a lightweight tag to the head of the current branch

.addAnnotatedTag(tagName, tagMessage, handlerFn) adds an annotated tag to the head of the current branch

.log([options], handlerFn) list commits between options.from and options.to tags or branch (if not specified will show all history). Additionally you can provide options.file, which is the path to a file in your repository. Then only this file will be considered. For any other set of options, supply options as an array of strings to be appended to the git log command.

.checkout(checkoutWhat, handlerFn) checks out the supplied tag, revision or branch

.checkoutBranch(branchName, startPoint, handlerFn) checks out a new branch from the supplied start point

.checkoutLocalBranch(branchName, handlerFn) checks out a new local branch

.checkoutLatestTag(handlerFn) convenience method to pull then checkout the latest tag

.add([fileA, ...], handlerFn) adds one or more files to be under source control

.commit(message, handlerFn) commits changes in the current working directory with the supplied message

.commit(message, [fileA, ...], handlerFn) commits changes on the named files with the supplied message

.customBinary(gitPath) sets the command to use to reference git, allows for using a git binary not available on the path environment variable

.mergeFromTo(from, to, [[options,] handlerFn]) merge from one branch to another, when supplied the options should be an array of additional parameters to pass into the git merge command.

.push(remote, branch, handlerFn) pushes to a named remote and named branch

.pushTags(remote, handlerFn) pushes tags to a named remote

.silent(isSilent) sets whether the console should be used for logging errors (defaults to true when the NODE_ENV contains the string prod)

.submoduleAdd(repo, path[, handlerFn]) adds a new sub module

.submoduleUpdate([args, ][handlerFn]) updates sub modules, args should be an array of string arguments to pass to the git submodule update command.

.rm([fileA, ...], handlerFn) removes any number of files from source control

.rmKeepLocal([fileA, ...], handlerFn) removes files from source control but leaves them on disk

.addRemote(name, repo, handlerFn) adds a new named remote to be tracked as name at the path repo

.removeRemote(name, handlerFn) removes the named remote

.getRemotes([verbose], handlerFn) gets a list of the named remotes, when the verbose option is supplied as true, includes the URLs and purpose of each ref.

.reset(resetMode, handlerFn) resets the repository (resetMode can be 'hard' or 'soft', handlerFn: (err))

.revparse([options], handlerFn) wraps git rev-parse. Primarily used to convert friendly commit references (ie branch names) to SHA1 hashes. Options should be an array of string options compatible with the git rev-parse

.status(handlerFn) gets the status of the current repo

.show([options], handlerFn) Show various types of objects, for example the file content at a certain commit. options is the single value string or array of string commands you want to run.

.listRemote([args], handlerFn) lists remote repositories - there are so many optional arguments in the underlying git ls-remote call, just supply any you want to use as the optional args array of strings eg: git.listRemote(['--heads', '--tags'], console.log.bind(console)).

outputHandler(handlerFn) attaches a handler that will be called with the name of the command being run and the stdout and stderr readable streams created by the child process running that command.

.then(handlerFn) calls a simple function in the current step

Release History

Bumped to a new major revision in the 1.x branch, now uses ChildProcess.spawn in place of ChildProcess.exec to add escaping to the arguments passed to each of the tasks.

Deprecated APIs

Use of these APIs is deprecated and should be avoided as support for them will be removed in future release:

.log([from, to], handlerFn) list commits between from and to tags or branch, switch to supplying the revisions as an options object instead.

Examples

// update repo and get a list of tags
require('simple-git')(__dirname + '/some-repo')
     .pull()
     .tags(function(err, tags) {
        console.log("Latest available tag: %s", tags.latest);
     });


// update repo and when there are changes, restart the app
require('simple-git')()
     .pull(function(err, update) {
        if(update && update.summary.changes) {
           require('child_process').exec('npm restart');
        }
     });

// starting a new repo
require('simple-git')()
     .init()
     .add('./*')
     .commit("first commit!")
     .addRemote('origin', 'https://github.com/user/repo.git')
     .push('origin', 'master');


// piping to the console for long running tasks
require('simple-git')()
     .outputHandler(function (command, stdout, stderr) {
        stdout.pipe(process.stdout);
        stderr.pipe(process.stderr);
     })
     .checkout('https://github.com/user/repo.git');

// update repo and print messages when there are changes, restart the app
require('simple-git')()
     .then(function() {
        console.log('Starting pull...');
     })
     .pull(function(err, update) {
        if(update && update.summary.changes) {
           require('child_process').exec('npm restart');
        }
     })
     .then(function() {
        console.log('pull done.');
     });

// get a full commits list, and then only between 0.11.0 and 0.12.0 tags
require('simple-git')()
  .log(function(err, log) {
    console.log(log);
  })
  .log('0.11.0', '0.12.0', function(err, log) {
    console.log(log);
  })