git-recent

git-recent is a small terminal utility that lists the most-recently committed Git branches and lets you interactively select one to checkout. It displays a compact menu of recent branches (sorted by committer date) and supports keyboard navigation and selection.

This tool is implemented in Rust and intended to be lightweight and simple.

Features

• Lists branches sorted by recent commit date (most recent first).
• Interactive terminal UI with:
  • Arrow keys (Up/Down)
  • Vim-style navigation (k/j)
  • Space or Enter to confirm checkout
  • q, Q, or Esc to cancel
• Moves the checked-out branch to the front of the internal list after a successful checkout.
• Minimal dependencies (only git and on Unix-like systems stty for raw mode).

Requirements

• Rust toolchain to build (or pre-built binary)
• Git available in PATH
• Unix-like terminal recommended. The code uses stty to enable raw mode (no-ops on non-Unix targets, so interactive key handling may be degraded on some platforms).

Build & Install

To build from source:

1. Clone the repository: git clone https://github.com/lnguyen218/git-recent.git cd git-recent

2. Build with cargo: cargo build --release

3. The binary will be at: target/release/git-recent

Optionally install it with Cargo: cargo install --path .

(or copy the target/release/git-recent binary into a directory on your PATH)

Usage

Run the program from a Git repository directory:

git-recent

The program lists the most-recently committed branches (up to a built-in maximum). Use the keys below to navigate and select:

• Up Arrow, k, or w — move selection up
• Down Arrow, j, or s — move selection down
• Enter or Space — checkout the selected branch
• q, Q, or Esc — cancel and exit

When you select a branch, git checkout <branch> is executed. On success, the branch is moved to the front of the internal list and the program exits.

If there are no branches found, the program prints No branches found and exits.

Behavior & Configuration

• The implementation reads the output of git branch --sort=-committerdate to get branches sorted by committer date.

• Constants in src/main.rs control behavior:

  • MAX_BRANCHES: maximum number of branches read (defaults to 200)
  • NO_OF_VISIBLE_BRANCHES: number of branches shown at once in the UI (defaults to 5) To change these behaviors, edit the constants in src/main.rs and rebuild.

• Terminal handling:

  • On Unix, stty raw -echo is used while the program runs to provide immediate key input handling; stty -raw echo is restored on exit (including panic) via an RAII guard.
  • The program prints basic ANSI escape sequences to clear the screen and highlight selection. This assumes a compatible terminal.

Limitations & Notes

• The UI is intentionally minimal. It is not a full TUI — it uses simple ANSI control sequences and stty for raw mode.
• On non-Unix platforms the raw-mode guard is a no-op; interactive input may not behave identically on Windows terminals.
• The application runs git checkout directly. Any Git hooks, merge conflicts, or uncommitted changes will behave the same as when running git checkout yourself.

Troubleshooting

• If the program exits with "git branch failed" or "git show-current failed", make sure you're running in a Git repository and git is available.
• If the terminal appears garbled after an unexpected exit, run stty sane (on Unix) or open a new terminal window.
• If key inputs don't respond as expected on Windows, try running in WSL or another Unix-like environment.

Contributing

Contributions are welcome. Please open issues for bugs or feature requests. If you plan to send a pull request:

• Fork the repository and create a feature branch.
• Keep changes focused and provide tests where reasonable.
• Ensure the code builds with stable Rust.

License

See the LICENSE file in this repository for license details (if present).

Contact

Created by @lnguyen218 — open an issue or PR on the repository if you need help or want to contribute.