vcsh

Manage dotfiles with multiple Git repos

TLDR

Initialize repo

$ vcsh init [reponame]

Clone repo

$ vcsh clone [url] [reponame]

Run git command

$ vcsh [reponame] [git-command]

List repos

$ vcsh list

Enter repo

$ vcsh enter [reponame]

Status all

$ vcsh status

List tracked files

$ vcsh list-tracked [reponame]

Pull all repos

$ vcsh pull

Add and commit a file in a repo

$ vcsh [reponame] add [~/.bashrc] && vcsh [reponame] commit -m "[message]"

Push all repos

$ vcsh push

Rename a repo

$ vcsh rename [oldname] [newname]

SYNOPSIS

vcsh manages configuration files (dotfiles) using multiple Git repositories that all share the same working directory ($HOME). Each repository tracks a separate set of files, allowing modular organization of shell configs, editor settings, and other dotfiles.The tool uses bare Git repositories to avoid conflicts between repos that coexist in the same directory. The enter command opens a subshell scoped to a specific repository, while running git commands directly against a named repo is also supported.

PARAMETERS

init reponame

Initialize an empty repo.

clone url [reponame]

Clone from URL.

list

List all repos.

list-tracked [reponame]

List tracked files.

list-untracked [-a] [-r]

List untracked files. -a shows all, -r is recursive.

enter reponame

Spawn subshell with $GIT_DIR set.

run reponame command

Run command with $GITDIR and $GITWORK_TREE set.

pull

Pull from all repos.

push

Push all repos.

rename old new

Rename a repository.

status [reponame]

Show status of all or one repo.

write-gitignore reponame

Write .gitignore.d/reponame via git ls-files.

delete reponame

Delete a repository.

ENVIRONMENT

VCSH_REPO_D

Directory where bare repositories are stored (default: $XDGCONFIGHOME/vcsh/repo.d).

INSTALL

sudo dnf install vcsh

sudo pacman -S vcsh

sudo zypper install vcsh

brew install vcsh

nix profile install nixpkgs#vcsh

CAVEATS

Requires basic Git knowledge. Bare repositories can be confusing -- use `vcsh enter` to inspect repo state. Files tracked by multiple repos will cause conflicts.

HISTORY

vcsh (version control system for $HOME) was created by Richard Hartmann for managing multiple Git repositories overlaid on $HOME.