git-rs

A memory-safe, storage-agnostic implementation of Git in Rust. No CLI calls, no libgit linkage, no host filesystem assumption.

Quick start

use git_rs::{InitOptions, MemoryFileSystem, Repository};

let storage = MemoryFileSystem::new();
let repository = Repository::init(storage, "example", &InitOptions::default())?;
assert_eq!(repository.read_git_file("HEAD")?, b"ref: refs/heads/main\n");
# Ok::<(), git_rs::Error>(())

cargo add git-rs
cargo run --example init -- my-repository

Key features

• Abstracted storage. All data flows through the FileSystem trait. HostFileSystem writes a .git directory compatible with the git CLI. MemoryFileSystem keeps everything in process memory. Implement the trait to route objects to S3, refs to Postgres, etc.
• Minimal dependencies. One production dependency: miniz_oxide for zlib.
• Memory safe. unsafe_code = "forbid" across the entire library.
• No CLI calls. Pure Rust reimplementation — zero git process invocations.
• 419 tests. 400 unit tests + 18 integration tests that compare every key operation against the system git binary byte-for-byte.

Status

Every common Git operation is available as a library call. All tests pass, clippy is clean at pedantic level, and the crate compiles with stable Rust edition 2024.

Area	Docs
Architecture & filesystem adapters	docs/architecture.md, docs/filesystems.md
Repository init, open, config	examples/init.rs, docs/config.md
Objects (blob, tree, commit, tag)	docs/objects.md, docs/trees-and-commits.md, docs/tags.md
References, branches, reflog	docs/references.md, docs/reflogs.md, docs/show-ref.md
Index & worktree	docs/index.md, docs/worktree.md, docs/ls-files.md
Commit, diff, status	docs/commit.md, docs/diff.md, docs/status.md
Merge, rebase, cherry-pick	docs/merge.md, docs/rebase.md, docs/replay.md
Fetch, push, pull, clone	docs/fetch-clone.md, docs/push.md, docs/pull.md
Protocol (upload-pack, receive-pack)	docs/upload-pack.md, docs/receive-pack.md, docs/protocol.md
Packfiles & repacking	docs/packfiles.md, docs/repack.md, docs/multi-pack-index.md
Maintenance & GC	docs/gc.md, docs/maintenance.md, docs/prune.md, docs/fsck.md
Log, blame, bisect, describe	docs/log.md, docs/blame.md, docs/bisect.md, docs/describe.md
Stash, notes, replace, submodules	docs/stash.md, docs/notes.md, docs/replace.md, docs/submodules.md
Apply, format-patch, am	docs/apply.md, docs/format-patch.md, docs/am.md
Bundle, archive, server-info	docs/bundles.md, docs/archive.md, docs/server-info.md
Attributes, ignore, sparse checkout	docs/attributes.md, docs/ignore.md, docs/sparse-checkout.md
Linked worktrees, restore, clean	docs/worktree-prune.md, docs/restore.md, docs/clean.md
Signature verification	docs/verify-signatures.md

Examples

101 runnable examples covering every operation are in examples/. Each demonstrates a single API with minimal setup:

cargo run --example init -- my-repository
cargo run --example clone_local -- /tmp/mirror
cargo run --example receive_pack -- /tmp/bare-repo