clones

Interactive CLI for cloning and managing Git repos from GitHub and GitLab. Uses fzf for fuzzy finding, NutsDB for caching, and optional Jira integration for ticket labels.

Install

go install github.com/danielboothcloud/clones@latest

Or build from source:

go build -o ~/.local/bin/clones .

Requires fzf, git, and auth via gh auth login / glab auth login (or GITHUB_TOKEN / GITLAB_TOKEN env vars).

Shell Wrapper

The binary outputs a directory path to stdout — the shell wrapper captures it to auto-cd and open your editor. Add this function to ~/.zshrc or ~/.bashrc:

clones() {
  local target_dir
  target_dir=$(command clones "$@")
  local exit_code=$?

  if [[ $target_dir == EDIT:* ]]; then
    local repo_path="${target_dir#EDIT:}"
    if [[ -d "$repo_path" ]]; then
      cd "$repo_path" || return 1
      ${EDITOR:-vi} .
    fi
    return
  fi

  if [[ $exit_code -eq 0 && -d "$target_dir" ]]; then
    cd "$target_dir" || return 1
  fi
}

Usage

clones                       # browse all repos (remote + local)
clones terraform             # filter by name
clones -l                    # local repos only (cd, pull, push, delete, edit)
clones -r                    # remote repos only
clones --platform gitlab     # single platform
clones --no-cache            # bypass NutsDB cache
clones --jira                # only repos with active Jira tickets

Repos clone to ~/projects/<owner>/<repo> by default (configurable — see Settings).

Settings

Optional. Create ~/.config/clones/clones.yml:

github_host: github.com           # GitHub Enterprise: ghe.example.com
gitlab_host: gitlab.com           # self-hosted GitLab: gitlab.example.com
clone_protocol: ssh               # ssh or https
clone_root: ~/projects            # where repos are cloned

# Optional: run heavy git ops on a remote host (useful when clone_root
# lives on a fuse-t / sshfs / NFS mount that struggles with pack churn).
remote:
  host: bluefin-vm                # ssh alias (must be in ~/.ssh/config or resolvable)
  path: /var/home/you/projects    # absolute path on the remote that backs clone_root
  ops:                            # which ops to dispatch via SSH
    - clone
    - delete
    - pull
    - push
    - checkout
  sync_timeout_seconds: 5         # how long to wait for the local mount to see remote changes

Env var overrides: GITHUB_HOST, GITLAB_HOST, CLONES_PROTOCOL, CLONES_ROOT.

When remote: is configured, ops listed in ops: execute via ssh <host> <cmd> instead of locally. Read-only ops (cd, edit, jiraopen, jirastatus) always run locally.

Cache

Repos are cached in NutsDB at ~/.cache/clones/db/ with 24h TTL. Stale cache is served instantly while a background refresh runs for next time.

Exclude Patterns

Create ~/.config/clones/exclude.txt to hide repos from results. One pattern per line, matched against owner/name, platform/owner/name, and description. Lines starting with # are comments.

archived
/deprecated/
some-org/old-project

Jira Integration

Optional. Configure ~/.config/clones/jira.yml:

enabled: true
base_url: https://yourorg.atlassian.net
email: you@example.com
jql: assignee = currentUser() AND status not in (Closed, Done, Completed)
active_statuses: In Progress, In Review, To Do, Pending

When enabled, local repos show Jira ticket labels extracted from branch names (e.g. feature/PROJ-123 shows [PROJ-123]). The JQL filter controls which tickets are displayed. Set enabled: false or remove the file to disable.

License

MIT