git-wip

Save every change as a commit named wip.

Synopsis

git wip [options]
git-wip [options]

Description

git wip puts everything you have not committed into one commit named wip, short for work in progress. That covers changed files, deleted files and new files git has never seen. Files that .gitignore names stay out.

Use it when you have to leave a branch in a hurry, to review a pull request or fix something on main. git stash does a similar job, but a stash is easy to forget, it belongs to no branch, and it skips new files unless you remember -u. A wip commit stays on the branch you were on, and git log shows it the next time you look.

When you come back, git undo asks, then takes the commit back and leaves all its changes staged. You carry on as if you never left.

git wip works from any folder inside the repository. It always saves the whole working tree, not only the folder you are in.

It commits with --no-verify, so pre-commit and commit-msg hooks do not run. A linter or test hook would otherwise block exactly the half-done work git wip is for. The hooks run as usual when you make the real commit.

It is a script named git-wip in toolbelt's bin folder. Git runs any program named git-NAME on your PATH as git NAME.

Options

git wip takes no arguments. The commit is always named wip, so you can spot it in git log and scripts can look for it.

How it counts files

The result line counts files from git status --porcelain --untracked-files=all.

• A file git knows that you changed, deleted or renamed counts as changed.
• A file git has never seen, or one you added with git add but never committed, counts as new.
• Every file inside a new folder counts on its own, so a new folder with 3 files adds 3.

Help and the man page

git wip -h and git-wip --help print the help. git wip --help makes git open the man page git-wip(1), which toolbelt installs from this document. Without an installed man page git says No manual entry for git-wip.

Safety checks

• A clean working tree has nothing to save. git wip exits 1 and makes no empty commit.
• A merge, rebase, cherry-pick or revert that is half done makes git wip refuse with exit 4. A wip commit in the middle of a rebase would end up inside the rebased history.
• A bare repository has no files to save. git wip exits 1.
• It never pushes. The wip commit stays on your machine until you push it yourself.

Pass-through

None. git wip runs git add -A and git commit -q --no-verify -m wip, and -v prints both.

Needs

git 2.30 or newer, from the git package on every distro.

Examples

Save and leave

$ git wip
saved 1 changed and 2 new files as 378f844 "wip" on feat/ctx-warn
git undo brings them back
$ git switch main

Come back

$ git switch feat/ctx-warn
Switched to branch 'feat/ctx-warn'
Your branch is ahead of 'origin/feat/ctx-warn' by 2 commits.
  (use "git push" to publish your local commits)
$ git undo -q -y
undid 378f844 "wip"
$ git status --short
M  ctx.sh
A  lib/prod.sh
A  notes.md

The two new files are staged, so they are safe from git clean from now on.

See the steps

$ git wip -v
+ git status --porcelain --untracked-files=all
git-wip: 1 changed and 2 new files to save
+ git add -A
+ git commit -q --no-verify -m wip
saved 1 changed and 2 new files as 378f844 "wip" on feat/ctx-warn
git undo brings them back

Nothing to save

$ git wip
git-wip: nothing to save, the working tree is clean
$ echo $?
1

On a detached HEAD

$ git wip
saved 1 changed file as e8c02a8 "wip" on a detached HEAD
git undo brings them back

A commit on a detached HEAD belongs to no branch. Run git switch -c NAME before you leave, or note the hash.

Save before switching, in one line

$ git wip && git switch main
saved 1 changed file as fc45a11 "wip" on feat/ctx-warn
git undo brings them back
Switched to branch 'main'
Your branch is up to date with 'origin/main'.

The && means the switch only happens when the save worked.

Troubleshooting

git-wip: nothing to save, the working tree is clean

Everything is committed already. Check with git status. Files that .gitignore names never count.

git-wip: refused, a rebase is in progress. Finish it or abort it first

Run git status to see where it stopped, then git rebase --continue or git rebase --abort.

git-wip: git commit failed. The changes are staged, see git status

Most often git has no name or email to commit with. git whoami shows what is set. Commit signing that needs a passphrase can fail here too when no agent is running.

A wip commit ended up on the remote

git undo refuses a pushed commit. Make the real commit on top instead, or squash the two with git rebase -i before the branch is merged.

Exit status

See also

git-undo, git-sync, git-stash(1), git-commit(1)