Gitto - Git Implementation in Python

A functional Git implementation built from scratch to demonstrate Git's core architecture and object model.

🎥 Demo

gitto.mp4

Features

• Object Storage: SHA-1 based content-addressable storage with zlib compression
• Index Management: Full staging area implementation
• Commits & History: Complete commit graph with parent tracking
• Branches & Tags: Reference management for versions
• Trees: Hierarchical file system representation
• Status Tracking: Working tree and index status visualization

Usage

Initialize Repository

gitto init my-project
cd my-project

Stage & Commit

echo "content" > file.txt
gitto add file.txt
gitto commit -m "Initial commit"

View History

gitto log
gitto show-ref

Manage Tags

gitto tags v1.0
gitto tags -a v1.0

Commands

Plumbing Commands (Low-level):

• gitto hash-object - Hash file objects
• gitto cat-file - Display object content
• gitto ls-tree - Show tree contents
• gitto rev-parse - Parse revision identifiers

Porcelain Commands (High-level):

• gitto init - Initialize repository
• gitto add - Stage files
• gitto commit - Record changes
• gitto log - View commit history
• gitto status - Show working tree status
• gitto tags - Manage tags
• gitto ls-files - List staged files
• gitto show-ref - List all references
• gitto branch - List or create branches
• gitto checkout - Checkout commits
• gitto rm - Remove files from index
• gitto check-ignore - Check ignore rules

Project Structure

core/          # Git core functionality
commands/      # Command implementations
libgitto.py    # CLI parser
gitto          # Executable

Learning Value

Understanding:

• Content-addressable object storage
• Commit graph and history tracking
• Staging area (index) mechanics
• Reference management
• Zlib compression for efficiency

Resources

• Pro Git Book - Official Git documentation
• Atlassian Git Tutorials - Comprehensive Git guides
• WYAG - Write Yourself a Git - Building Git from scratch tutorial