egit project is an Erlang NIF wrapper to libgit2 library. It allows to execute commands to access and manage a git repository without depending on the external git tool and internally doesn't involve any parsing of text output produced by the git executable.

Though it appears to be stable, the project is currently in the beta stage.

Source code: https://github.com/saleyn/egit

Documentation: https://hexdocs.pm/egit

Currently supported functionality

Repository Management

• Init a repository (including creation of bare repositories)
• Clone a repository
• Open a repository at given local path

Remote Operations

• Fetch from remote
• Pull from remote
• Push to remote
• List/add/delete/rename/set-url on remotes

Branch Management

• List branches (local/remote/all with filters)
• Create branches
• Rename branches
• Delete branches

File Operations

• Add files to repository
• Remove files from index
• Move/rename tracked files
• Checkout revisions/branches
• Get repository status
• List files in index

Commit Operations

• Commit staged changes
• Look up commit details
• Reverse parse references
• List commits with sorting/filtering

Analysis & History

• Show file change history by line (blame)
• Describe working tree state (describe)
• Show reference logs (reflog)

Configuration

• Get/set configuration at various levels (system/global/local/app/default)

Tagging

• List/create/delete tags

Inspection & Manipulation

• Cat-file (inspect blobs, trees, commits, tags)
• Reset (soft/mixed/hard)
• Cherry-pick commits

Advanced Operations

• Diff - Compare revisions with file-level change tracking
• Merge - Merge branches with fast-forward and conflict detection
• Revert - Create commits that undo changes safely
• Rebase - Interactive rebase with init/next/finish/abort operations
• Stash - Save/list/apply/pop/drop uncommitted changes

Supported Functions Summary

Installation

• Make sure you have libgit2 installed.
  • On Ubuntu run: sudo apt-get install libgit2-dev
  • On Arch Linux run: sudo pacman -S libgit2
  • On Mac OS run: brew install libgit2
• If you have an older gcc or clang compiler, and prefer to use a globally installed fmt library instead of having egit pull a fmt submodule, install it with:
  • On Mac OS run: brew install fmt
• If you are building locally from source, clone egit and run:

$ make

• For Erlang projects add the dependency in rebar.config:

{deps,
 [% ...
  {egit, "~> 0.2"}
 ]}.

• For Elixir projects add the dependency in mix.exs:

def deps do
  [
    {:egit, "~> 0.2"}
  ]
end

Usage

To clone a repository, give it a URL and a local path:

1> Repo = git:clone("http://github.com/saleyn/egit.git", "/tmp/egit").
#Ref<...>

To open a local repository, give it a path:

1> Repo = git:open(~"/tmp/egit").
#Ref<...>

All functions accept either charlists or binaries as arguments, so they work conveniently in Erlang and Elixir.

The cloned/opened repository resource is owned by the current process, and will be automatically garbage collected when the owner process exits.

After obtaining a repository reference, you can call functions in the git module as illustrated below. For complete reference of supported functions see the documentation.

Basic Workflow

Here's a typical workflow for working with repositories:

%% Repository initialization and opening
1> Repo = git:init("/tmp/my_repo").          % Create new repository
2> Repo = git:clone(URL, "/tmp/cloned").     % Clone from remote
3> Repo = git:open("/existing/repo").        % Open existing repository

%% Check repository status
4> git:status(Repo).
#{untracked => [<<"file.txt">>]}

%% Make changes
5> git:add(Repo, "file.txt").
#{mode => added, files => [<<"file.txt">>]}

%% Commit changes
6> git:commit(Repo, "Add new file").
{ok, <<"abc123def456...">>}

%% Push to remote
7> git:push(Repo).
ok

Branch Management

%% Create and work with branches
1> git:branch_create(Repo, "feature/new-feature").
ok

2> git:checkout(Repo, "feature/new-feature").
ok

3> git:list_branches(Repo, [local]).
[{local, <<"main">>}, {local, <<"feature/new-feature">>}]

%% Rename and delete branches
4> git:branch_rename(Repo, "feature/new-feature", "feature/better-name").
ok

5> git:branch_delete(Repo, "feature/old-branch").
ok

Advanced Operations

%% Analyze changes with diff
1> git:diff(Repo, "HEAD~1", "HEAD").
[{<<"src/module.erl">>, <<"modified">>, 2, 45}]

%% Merge branches
2> git:merge(Repo, "develop").
{ok, merged}

%% Safe undo with revert
3> git:revert(Repo, "abc123def456").
ok

%% Stash uncommitted work
4> git:stash_save(Repo, "WIP: feature work").
{ok, <<"stash_oid">>}

5> git:stash_list(Repo).
[{0, <<"WIP: feature work">>}]

6> git:stash_apply(Repo, 0).
ok

%% Rebase for clean history
7> git:rebase_init(Repo, "main").
5

8> git:rebase_finish(Repo).
ok

Code Analysis

%% Show who made changes
1> git:blame(Repo, "src/main.erl").
[{1, {<<"John Doe">>, <<"john@example.com">>}, <<"abc123">>, 1686195121},
 {2, {<<"Jane Smith">>, <<"jane@example.com">>}, <<"def456">>, 1686195200}]

%% Describe position relative to tags
2> git:describe(Repo, "HEAD").
{ok, <<"v1.0.0-5-ga8f5d2c">>}

%% View reference history
3> git:reflog(Repo, "HEAD").
[{<<"abc123">>, <<"commit: Initial commit">>, <<"John Doe">>, 1686195121}]

%% Cherry-pick commits
4> git:cherry_pick(Repo, "feature/other-branch").
ok

Tag Management

%% Create and manage tags
1> git:tag_create(Repo, "v1.0.0", "Release version 1.0.0").
ok

2> git:list_tags(Repo).
[<<"v0.9.0">>, <<"v1.0.0">>]

3> git:list_tags(Repo, [{pattern, "v1.*"}]).
[<<"v1.0.0">>]

%% Get tag details
4> git:cat_file(Repo, "v1.0.0").
#{type => tag,
  target_type => <<"commit">>,
  object => <<"abc123...">>,
  tag => <<"v1.0.0">>,
  tagger => {<<"Jane Smith">>, <<"jane@example.com">>, 1686195200},
  message => <<"Release version 1.0.0\n">>}

Authentication

egit supports multiple authentication methods for accessing private repositories. For detailed documentation see credentials

SSH Key Authentication

Use SSH keys for authentication (from memory or files):

%% SSH key from file paths
Creds = #{
  type => ssh_key,
  username => <<"git">>,
  privkey => <<"/home/user/.ssh/id_rsa">>,
  pubkey => <<"/home/user/.ssh/id_rsa.pub">>,
  passphrase => <<"optional_passphrase">>
},

%% Clone private repository
Repo = git:clone(
  <<"git@github.com:user/private-repo.git">>,
  <<"/tmp/private-repo">>,
  #{credentials => Creds}
).

%% Fetch with SSH key authentication
git:fetch(Repo, <<"origin">>, #{credentials => Creds}).

%% Push with SSH key authentication
git:push(Repo, <<"origin">>, [<<"refs/heads/main">>], #{credentials => Creds}).

SSH Key from Memory

For key material in memory (e.g., from configuration):

%% PEM-encoded key content directly
PrivKeyPEM = <<"-----BEGIN RSA PRIVATE KEY-----\n...\n-----END RSA PRIVATE KEY-----">>,
PublicKeyPEM = <<"ssh-rsa AAAAB3Nza...\n">>,

Creds = #{
  type => ssh_key,
  username => <<"git">>,
  privkey => PrivKeyPEM,
  pubkey => PublicKeyPEM
},

Repo = git:clone(Url, Path, #{credentials => Creds}).

Username/Password Authentication

For HTTP(S) repositories with basic authentication:

Creds = #{
  type => userpass,
  username => <<"github_user">>,
  password => <<"password_or_token">>
},

Repo = git:clone(
  <<"https://github.com/user/private-repo.git">>,
  <<"/tmp/private-repo">>,
  #{credentials => Creds}
).

Personal Access Token (GitHub, GitLab, etc.)

Use a PAT for token-based authentication:

%% GitHub Personal Access Token
TokenCreds = #{
  type => token,
  username => <<"your_username">>,  % Can also be 'oauth2' or 'git'
  token => <<"ghp_xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx">>
},

Repo = git:clone(
  <<"https://github.com/user/private-repo.git">>,
  <<"/tmp/private-repo">>,
  #{credentials => TokenCreds}
).

%% Fetch with token authentication
git:fetch(Repo, <<"origin">>, #{credentials => TokenCreds}).

%% Push with token authentication
git:push(Repo, <<"origin">>, [<<"main">>], #{credentials => TokenCreds}).

SSH Agent Delegation

Delegate to the system SSH agent:

AgentCreds = #{
  type => ssh_agent,
  username => <<"git">>
},

Repo = git:clone(
  <<"git@github.com:user/private-repo.git">>,
  <<"/tmp/private-repo">>,
  #{credentials => AgentCreds}
).

Proplist Format

Credentials can also be specified as a proplist instead of a map:

Creds = [
  {type, ssh_key},
  {username, <<"git">>},
  {privkey, <<"/home/user/.ssh/id_rsa">>},
  {pubkey, <<"/home/user/.ssh/id_rsa.pub">>}
],

Repo = git:clone(Url, Path, #{credentials => Creds}).

Default Authentication

When no credentials are provided, egit falls back to system-level authentication:

%% Will use SSH agent, ~/.ssh/config, or git credential helper
Repo = git:clone(Url, Path).

%% Without credentials option - uses defaults
git:fetch(Repo, <<"origin">>).
git:push(Repo, <<"origin">>, [<<"main">>]).

Remote Management

%% Configure remotes
1> git:remote_add(Repo, "upstream", "https://github.com/upstream/repo.git").
ok

2> git:list_remotes(Repo).
[{<<"origin">>, <<"https://github.com/user/repo.git">>, [push, fetch]},
 {<<"upstream">>, <<"https://github.com/upstream/repo.git">>, [push, fetch]}]

%% Sync with remote
3> git:fetch(Repo, "origin").
ok

4> git:pull(Repo, "origin").
ok

5> git:push(Repo, "origin", ["main"]).
ok

Erlang Example

2> git:branch_create(R, "tmp", [{target, ~"1b74c46"}]).
ok
3> git:checkout(R, "tmp").
ok
4> file:write_file("/tmp/egit/temp.txt", ~"This is a test").
ok
5> git:add(R, ".").
#{mode => added,files => [~"temp.txt"]}
6> git:commit(R, "Add test files").
ok
7> git:cat_file(R, ~"tmp", [{abbrev, 5}]).
#{type => commit,
  author =>
      {~"Serge Aleynikov",~"test@gmail.com",1686195121, -14400},
  oid => ~"b85d0",
  parents => [~"1fd4b"]}
8> git:cat_file(R, "b85d0", [{abbrev, 5}]).
#{type => tree,
  commits =>
      [{~".github",~"tree",~"1e41f",16384},
       {~".gitignore",~"blob",~"b893a",33188},
       {~".gitmodules",~"blob",~"2550a",33188},
       {~".vscode",~"tree",~"c7b1b",16384},
       {~"LICENSE",~"blob",~"d6456",33188},
       {~"Makefile",~"blob",~"2d635",33188},
       {~"README.md",~"blob",~"7b3d0",33188},
       {~"c_src",~"tree",~"147f3",16384},
       {~"rebar.config",~"blob",~"1f68a",33188},
       {~"rebar.lock",~"blob",~"57afc",33188},
       {~"src",~"tree",~"1bccb",16384}]}
8> git:cat_file(R, "b893a", [{abbrev, 5}]).
#{type => blob,
  data => ~"*.swp\n*.dump\n/c_src/*.o\n/c_src/fmt\n/priv/*.so\n/_build\n/doc\n"}
9> git:tag_create(R, "v0.1.0", "Release 0.1.0").
ok
10> git:list_tags(R).
[~"v0.1.0"]
11> git:list_tags(R, [{lines, 1}]).
[{~"v0.1.0",~"Release 0.1.0\n"}]
12> git:tag_delete(R, "v0.1.0").
ok
13> git:status(R).
#{untracked => [~"temp.txt"]}
14> git:status(R, [branch]).
#{branch => ~"main", untracked => [~"temp.txt"]}
15> git:reset(R, hard).
ok
16> git:blame(R, "README.md").
[{1, {~"Serge Aleynikov", ~"test@gmail.com"}, ~"abc123", 1686195121},
 {2, {~"Jane Smith", ~"jane@example.com"}, ~"def456", 1686195200}]
17> git:describe(R, "HEAD").
{ok, ~"v0.1.0-5-ga8f5d2c"}
18> git:reflog(R, "HEAD").
[{~"abc123", ~"commit: Add feature", ~"John Doe", 1686195121},
 {~"def456", ~"checkout: moving from main to feature", ~"Jane Smith", 1686195200}]
19> git:cherry_pick(R, ~"abc123def456").
ok
20> git:remove(R, "old_file.txt").
ok
21> file:rename("/tmp/egit/old.erl", "/tmp/egit/new.erl").
ok
22> git:move(R, "old.erl", "new.erl").
ok

Elixir example

iex(1)> repo = :git.init("/tmp/egit_repo")
#Reference<0.739271388.2889220102.160795>
iex(2)> :git.remote_add(repo, "origin", "git@github.com:saleyn/test_repo.git")
:ok
iex(3)> :git.list_remotes(repo)
[{"origin", "git@github.com:saleyn/test_repo.git", [:push, :fetch]}]
iex(4)> ok = File.write!("/tmp/egit_repo/README.md", "This is a test\n")
:ok
iex(5)> :git.add(repo, "README.md")
%{mode: :added, files: ["README.md"]}
iex(6)> :git.status(repo)
%{index: [{:new, "README.md"}]}
iex(7)> :git.commit(repo, "Initial commit")
{:ok, "dc89c6b26b22f41d34300654f8d36252925d5d67"}

Patching

If you find some functionality lacking, feel free to add missing functions and submit a PR. The implementation recommendation would be to use one of the examples provided with libgit2 as a guide, add the functionality as lg2_*() function in c_src/git_*.hpp, modify git.cpp to call that function accordingly, write unit tests in git.erl and sumbmit a pull request.

Author

Serge Aleynikov saleyn@gmail.com

License

Apache 2.0