Lemur 🐒

A smart Git branch switcher that learns from your usage patterns. Like autojump for directories, but for Git branches.

What is Lemur?

Lemur is a lightweight command-line tool that helps you quickly switch between Git branches based on your usage frequency and patterns. Instead of typing out full branch names or scrolling through git branch output, Lemur learns which branches you use most and lets you jump to them with just a few characters.

Features

• Smart branch switching: Jump to branches using partial names or fuzzy matching
• Usage-based ranking: Frequently used branches appear first in suggestions
• Lightweight: Pure Bash implementation for maximum portability
• Easy integration: Works with your existing Git workflow
• Cross-platform: Works on macOS, Linux, and other Unix-like systems

Installation

# Download and install
curl -o ~/.local/bin/lemur https://raw.githubusercontent.com/skyronic/git-lemur/main/lemur
chmod +x ~/.local/bin/lemur

# Add to PATH if needed
echo 'export PATH="$HOME/.local/bin:$PATH"' >> ~/.bashrc
source ~/.bashrc

Setup in Git Repositories

After installation, initialize Lemur in each Git repository where you want to use it:

cd /path/to/your/git/repo
lemur init

The lemur init command will:

• Create the .git/lemur/ directory for tracking data
• Set up the post-checkout Git hook to track branch switches
• Handle existing hooks by backing them up and appending Lemur tracking
• Start tracking immediately by logging your current branch

Note: You only need to run lemur init once per repository. The command is safe to run multiple times.

Usage

Basic Commands

# Initialize Lemur in a Git repository
lemur init
# → sets up branch tracking for the current repository

# Switch to a branch (fuzzy matching)
lemur feature
# → switches to "feature/user-authentication" if it's your most used match

# Show available branches (no arguments)
lemur
# → shows your most used branches

Examples

# You frequently work on these branches:
# - feature/user-authentication
# - feature/user-profile  
# - bugfix/auth-validation
# - main

# Quick switching:
lemur feat        # → feature/user-authentication (most used)
lemur user        # → feature/user-profile
lemur bug         # → bugfix/auth-validation
lemur main        # → main

# Multiple matches - automatically picks most used:
lemur auth        # → feature/user-authentication (most used match)

# See all matches for a pattern:
lemur --list auth
# Branches matching 'auth':
#   1) feature/user-authentication (★★★)
#   2) bugfix/auth-validation (★★)

How It Works

1. Setup: Run lemur init to set up branch tracking in a Git repository
2. Tracking: Git post-checkout hook logs branch switches to .git/lemur/history.db
3. Matching: When you type a partial name, Lemur finds the best matches from your history
4. Switching: Automatically runs git checkout to switch branches

Data Storage

Lemur stores branch usage data locally in each Git repository at .git/lemur/history.db.

Advanced Usage

Useful Aliases

# Interactive branch selection with fzf
alias lb='lemur | fzf | xargs lemur'

# Quick patterns
alias gf='lemur feature'
alias gb='lemur bugfix'
alias gm='lemur main'

Scripting

# Get the most likely branch for a pattern
BRANCH=$(lemur --dry-run feature)
if [ $? -eq 0 ]; then
    echo "Would switch to: $BRANCH"
fi

Commands Reference

Command	Description
lemur init	Initialize Lemur tracking in current repository
lemur	Show most used branches
lemur <pattern>	Switch to best matching branch
lemur --help	Show help message
lemur --version	Show version
lemur --dry-run <pattern>	Show which branch would be selected without switching
lemur --list <pattern>	Show all branches matching a pattern without switching

Requirements

• Bash 4.0+
• Git 2.0+
• Standard Unix utilities (awk, sed, sort, etc.)

Contributing

Contributions are welcome! Please feel free to submit a Pull Request.

License

MIT License - see LICENSE file for details.

Similar Tools

• autojump - Smart directory jumping
• z - Jump around directories
• git-recent - See recent branches

Changelog

v0.1.0

• Initial release
• Basic branch switching and learning
• lemur init command for easy repository setup
• Smart Git hook integration with existing hook backup
• Usage-based branch ranking with recency weighting
• Interactive branch selection for multiple matches
• Colored output and star rating system
• Dry-run mode for testing
• Cross-platform support