Add persistent history to `git-repl` #1226

jjb · 2026-01-18T19:02:29Z

persistent command history
notes

jjb · 2026-01-18T19:02:51Z

@spacewander @hyperupcall take a look

jjb · 2026-01-18T19:03:27Z

i have comments in the code discussing different approaches we could take

spacewander

I will vote for write command to history in all cases except for blank. Non-git command may be important to record.

spacewander · 2026-01-19T03:00:25Z

bin/git-repl

+# global history for all projects. we could make option for per-project history
+# for my use, i want this global history, and it's also much more simple to implement
+# name is analogous to bash_history and zsh_history
+HISTFILE=~/.git_repl_history 


Better to make it configurable

okay take a look at what i came up with

jjb · 2026-01-20T05:20:12Z

i'll wait for default command to merge before bringing main into this one

jjb · 2026-01-20T05:20:50Z

@hyperupcall wdyt?

spacewander

LGTM

hyperupcall

Thank you for tackling this! When I saw the previous history -s, I saw room for improvement.

Everything looks really great, I was hoping to tweak mainly just two things:

Use HISTIGNORE to replace some manual ifs
Tweak HISTFILE local and filename (reasoning in review comments)

Mentioned in the review comments, git-extras.repl.init-eval could later be introduced in the future so that HISTCONTROL, etc. could be changed directly be the user.

hyperupcall · 2026-01-23T03:17:22Z

bin/git-repl

+if [[ "$use_local_history" == "true" ]]; then
+  HISTFILE="$(git rev-parse --show-toplevel)/.git_repl_history"
+else
+  HISTFILE=~/.git_repl_history


Suggested change

HISTFILE=~/.git_repl_history

HISTFILE=${XDG_STATE_HOME:-$HOME/.local/state}/git_extras_repl_history

Mostly conform to the XDG Base Directory Specification so users' home directories don't get cluttered.

interesting, i don't know anything about this - does it need discussion?

Discussing further is an option!. But syntax is pretty standard for Bash and implements this part:

$XDG_STATE_HOME defines the base directory relative to which user-specific state files should be stored. If $XDG_STATE_HOME is either not set or empty, a default equal to $HOME/.local/state should be used.

The $XDG_STATE_HOME contains state data that should persist between (application) restarts, but that is not important or portable enough to the user that it should be stored in $XDG_DATA_HOME. It may contain:

actions history (logs, history, recently used files, …)

current state of the application that can be reused on a restart (view, layout, open files, undo history, …)

Another option is to write HISTFILE=${XDG_STATE_HOME:-$HOME/.local/state}/git-extras/repl_history. That might be better if there's other similar files that need to be written under $XDG_STATE_HOME.

i meant, discussion amongst maintainers - i'm happy with whatever you/y'all decide

bin/git-repl

hyperupcall · 2026-01-23T03:40:56Z

bin/git-repl

 git version
 echo "git-extras version ""$(git-extras -v)"
 echo "Type 'ls' to ls files below current directory; '!command' to execute any command or just 'subcommand' to execute any git subcommand; 'quit', 'exit', 'q', ^D, or ^C to exit the git repl."



Suggested change

HISTIGNORE=${HISTIGNORE:-+([[:space:]])}

More details on line 50,. Be sure to add shopt -s extglob at the top of the file, this depends on the +() syntax!

hyperupcall · 2026-01-23T03:43:02Z

bin/git-repl

-  # History
-  history -s "$cmd"
+  # Add command to history if it is not all whitespace
+  if [[ ! "$cmd" =~ ^[[:space:]]*$ ]]; then


Use HISTIGNORE like above instead of adding this condition.

hyperupcall · 2026-01-23T03:47:50Z

man/git-repl.md


+  Commands entered in a repl session will be saved to a history file and be available in
+  future sessions, similar to a shell or programming language repl. By default,
+  there is one global history file, ~/.git_repl_history. You can specify that your projects


Suggested change

there is one global history file, ~/.git_repl_history. You can specify that your projects

the global history file is at `~/.local/state/git_extras_repl_history`. You can specify that your projects

man/Commands.md may need to be regenerated,.

hyperupcall · 2026-01-23T11:09:24Z

bin/git-repl

+fi
+
+# file doesn't exist, is empty, or contains only whitespace
+if [[ ! -f "$HISTFILE" ]] || [[ ! -s "$HISTFILE" ]] || ! grep -q '[^[:space:]]' "$HISTFILE"; then


Suggested change

if [[ ! -f "$HISTFILE" ]] || [[ ! -s "$HISTFILE" ]] || ! grep -q '[^[:space:]]' "$HISTFILE"; then

if [[ ! -f "$HISTFILE" ]] || [[ ! -s "$HISTFILE" ]]; then

Is [[ ! -f ...]] || [[ ! -s ... ]] enough? I think the grep is a bit too defensive, having trouble thinking when that condition would hold.

Curious what version of bash you are on? bash 5.2.37 seems to have fixed the empty file & history -r/history -a thing.

🫠

➔ bash --version GNU bash, version 3.2.57(1)-release (arm64-apple-darwin25) Copyright (C) 2007 Free Software Foundation, Inc. ➔ type bash bash is /bin/bash

I see! Might be good to add the version with the history -r... comment so someone with a future version doesn't change it.

okay, added a comment 79f4f72

Co-authored-by: Edwin Kofler <edwin@kofler.dev>

jjb · 2026-01-24T21:27:43Z

thanks @hyperupcall - for the HISTIGNORE / shopt -s extglob stuff, i didn't understand if i could just accept your suggestions or need to make additional changes - do you want to just go ahead and make the changes?

hyperupcall · 2026-01-24T22:30:51Z

@jjb It's up to you! I couldn't suggest some things, like adding the shopt -s extglob to the top of the file. But for the things I was able to accept, you can click the "Accept suggestion"/"Commit suggestion" if you'd like, that's what I usually do when I'm getting reviewed.

jjb · 2026-01-24T22:59:29Z

@hyperupcall you have write access on my branch, go for it

jjb added 2 commits January 18, 2026 11:00

persistent command history

1c92ae4

notes

4a61ed0

spacewander reviewed Jan 19, 2026

View reviewed changes

jjb added 6 commits January 18, 2026 19:44

decision on which commands to save

5ec41a6

configurable history location

cbc2d21

fix history initialization in various scenarios

98b004a

documentation

4855890

comment

b47c9e6

don't add whitespace or consecutive duplicates to history

7918921

jjb requested a review from spacewander January 20, 2026 05:20

spacewander approved these changes Jan 20, 2026

View reviewed changes

jjb and others added 2 commits January 19, 2026 22:17

Merge branch 'main' into persistent-history

ed8c2df

fix manpage output

4b536e9

spacewander requested a review from hyperupcall January 21, 2026 08:18

hyperupcall requested changes Jan 23, 2026

View reviewed changes

hyperupcall changed the title ~~persistent history~~ Add persistent history to git-repl Jan 23, 2026

jjb and others added 2 commits January 24, 2026 13:19

Update bin/git-repl

6db32a2

Co-authored-by: Edwin Kofler <edwin@kofler.dev>

Update bin/git-repl

f79b69b

Co-authored-by: Edwin Kofler <edwin@kofler.dev>

Update git-repl

79f4f72

	HISTFILE=~/.git_repl_history
	HISTFILE=${XDG_STATE_HOME:-$HOME/.local/state}/git_extras_repl_history

	there is one global history file, ~/.git_repl_history. You can specify that your projects
	the global history file is at `~/.local/state/git_extras_repl_history`. You can specify that your projects

	if [[ ! -f "$HISTFILE" ]] \|\| [[ ! -s "$HISTFILE" ]] \|\| ! grep -q '[^[:space:]]' "$HISTFILE"; then
	if [[ ! -f "$HISTFILE" ]] \|\| [[ ! -s "$HISTFILE" ]]; then

Add persistent history to git-repl #1226

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Add persistent history to git-repl #1226

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jjb commented Jan 18, 2026

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jjb commented Jan 24, 2026

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hyperupcall commented Jan 24, 2026

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Add persistent history to `git-repl` #1226

Add persistent history to `git-repl` #1226

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