Project Context

Reference for ruby-git's architecture, coding standards, design philosophy, and technical constraints. Load this skill when answering questions about code structure, where logic belongs, or how the layers interact.

Contents

• How to use this skill
• Related skills
• Architecture & Module Organization
• Layer Responsibilities
• Coding Standards
• Design Philosophy
• Key Technical Details
• Compatibility
• Performance
• Implementation Notes

How to use this skill

Attach this file to your Copilot Chat context when you need architecture guidance, coding standard details, or implementation constraints.

Related skills

• Development Workflow — TDD cycle and commit conventions for day-to-day work
• Command Implementation — generating and reviewing command classes in the layered architecture
• Facade Implementation — generating and reviewing Git::Repository::* facade methods, the gem's public API layer
• YARD Documentation — documentation standards

Architecture & Module Organization

Key modules and their roles:

Key directories:

• lib/git/ — Core library code
• lib/git/commands/ — Command classes (new architecture)
• lib/git/repository/ — Facade topic modules (Git::Repository::*)
• spec/unit/ — RSpec unit tests (mocked execution context)
• spec/integration/ — RSpec integration tests (real git repositories)
• spec/support/ — Shared test contexts and helpers
• redesign/ — Architecture redesign documentation
  • redesign/3_architecture_implementation.md is a living migration tracker. When command migrations land, keep checklist states, "Next Task", and Phase 2 progress counts synchronized with lib/git/commands/ and current spec paths.

Layer Responsibilities

The three-layer architecture separates concerns cleanly:

Git::Repository (facade — topic modules under lib/git/repository/)
  └── Git::Commands::* (defines CLI API, binds args, executes via execution_context)
        └── Git::ExecutionContext::* (configured subprocess runner: env, binary, global opts)
              └── Git::CommandLine (subprocess execution)

• Commands layer (Git::Commands::*): Owns the git CLI contract. Declares arguments via DSL, executes command, returns CommandLineResult. No parsing.
  • literal entries are only for operation selectors (subcommand names, mode flags like --delete that define what the class does). Output-format flags, parser-contract options, and other caller-controlled options belong as flag_option / value_option — not as literal entries.
  • Each command class represents one operation, not one output format. Output-mode flags (--patch, --numstat, --raw, --format=…) are options declared in the DSL; the facade chooses which to pass. Separate subclasses for the same operation with different output modes are an anti-pattern.
• Parser layer (Git::Parsers::*): Transforms raw stdout/stderr into structured Ruby data. No execution.
• Facade layer (Git::Repository::*): Pre-processes caller arguments, invokes the right command class, calls parsers, constructs rich response objects. Parser-contract options (e.g. no_color: true, pretty: 'raw', format: FORMAT_STRING) are passed explicitly at the facade call site — this makes the parser contract auditable by reading the topic module method.

Git::Commands::Base provides default #initialize(execution_context) and #call. Command classes that need non-zero successful exits declare allow_exit_status <Range> with a rationale comment.

Command-layer neutrality

Command classes are neutral, faithful representations of the git CLI. They declare options via the DSL but never embed policy choices (output-control flags, editor suppression, progress, verbose mode). The facade (Git::Repository::*) sets safe defaults at each call site. Some defaults are fixed (not in ALLOWED_OPTS — rejected by assert_valid_opts! before reaching the command); others are overridable (in ALLOWED_OPTS, placed before the caller's **opts so the caller's value wins). The execution layer (GIT_EDITOR='true') is an unconditional safety net.

Anti-pattern: literal '--no-edit', literal '--verbose', literal '--no-progress' inside a command class.

Correct pattern: flag_option :edit, negatable: true in the command; no_edit: true passed from the facade call site.

Validation Boundaries

Command classes use per-argument validation parameters (required:, type:, allow_nil:, etc.) and operand format validation. They generally do not declare cross-argument constraint methods (conflicts, requires, requires_one_of, requires_exactly_one_of, forbid_values, allowed_values) — git is the single source of truth for its own option semantics. The narrow exception is arguments git cannot observe in its argv: if an argument is skip_cli: true, git never sees it and cannot detect incompatibilities — conflicts and/or requires_one_of are appropriate. Example: cat-file --batch uses both because :objects is skip_cli: true:

The constraint DSL infrastructure (conflicts, requires, requires_one_of, requires_exactly_one_of, forbid_values, allowed_values) remains available in Git::Commands::Arguments and is used only for skip_cli: true argument constraints, and in narrow documented cases for git-visible arguments whose combination causes silent data loss (no error, wrong result). See redesign/3_architecture_implementation.md Insight 6 for the full policy and exception criteria.

Coding Standards

Ruby Style

• frozen_string_literal: true at the top of every Ruby file
• Ruby 3.2.0+ idioms; keyword arguments for multi-parameter methods
• private keyword form (not private :method_name)
• Pattern matching for complex conditionals where appropriate

Naming

Result class constraints:

• *Info / *Result suffixes are reserved for top-level Git:: data structs. Never apply them to Git::Commands::* classes — command classes are subprocess runners, not data structs, and a name like Commands::Foo::BarInfo misleads readers.
• Never name a sub-command class Object — it shadows Ruby's ::Object.

Code Organization

• Single-responsibility classes; one public class per file as a general rule
• Tightly-coupled helper classes may share a file
• Core code in lib/git/; command classes in lib/git/commands/

Documentation

• YARD for all public methods: @param, @return, @raise, @example
• Use @overload with explicit keyword params when methods use **
• @api private on internal methods
• Document edge cases, platform differences, security considerations

Design Philosophy

See CONTRIBUTING.md for authoritative, complete guidelines.

Summary:

• Lightweight wrapper — minimal abstraction over git CLI
• Principle of least surprise — predictable, follows git conventions
• Direct CLI mapping — git add → Git::Repository#add; use prefix + suffix for multi-purpose commands (#ls_files_untracked, #ls_files_staged)
• Parameter naming mirrors long CLI options
• Rich output objects — translate git output to Ruby objects when useful to callers
• No unnecessary extensions — stay close to git's actual behavior

Key Technical Details

Error Hierarchy

All gem errors inherit from Git::Error:

• Git::FailedError — non-zero exit status
• Git::SignaledError — killed by signal
• Git::TimeoutError — exceeded timeout (subclass of SignaledError)
• ArgumentError — invalid arguments

All errors include structured data (command, output, status) for debugging. Never swallow exceptions silently.

Path Handling

• Working-directory paths: relative to repo working directory
• Paths stored as Pathname objects on Git::Repository
• Git::EscapedPath for paths with special characters
• Handle Windows path separators; test with Unicode filenames

Encoding

• Use rchardet for automatic encoding detection
• Handle UTF-8, ASCII, and platform-default encodings
• Be aware of binary vs. text mode differences on Windows

Timeouts

• Global timeout configurable; per-command override available
• Git::TimeoutError is raised on expiry
• Built into Git::CommandLine; document implications in YARD

Dependencies

• activesupport (≥ 5.0) — utilities and deprecation handling
• addressable (~> 2.8) — URI parsing
• process_executer (~> 4.0) — subprocess execution with timeout
• rchardet (~> 1.9) — character encoding detection

Compatibility

• Minimum Ruby (language level): 3.2.0
• Supported Rubies: MRI (macOS, Linux, Windows); latest JRuby and TruffleRuby on Linux
• Minimum Git: 2.28.0
• Platforms: macOS, Linux, Windows (JRuby/TruffleRuby officially supported on Linux only)
• Use File.join and forward slashes; avoid platform-specific paths in tests
• Windows has different path handling, file-system behavior, and line endings; JRuby on Windows is not supported
• Document git version requirements for features that need newer git

Performance

Commands and subprocesses

• Commands execute with global or per-command configurable timeout
• Subprocess execution is handled by Git::CommandLine; do not shell out directly
• Clean up resources (file handles, temp files) after every operation
• Handle large repository operations efficiently

Memory

• Lazy-load Git objects when possible; cache appropriately
• Stream large outputs rather than buffering everything
• Be mindful of memory with large diffs and logs

Repository operations

• Minimize Git command executions; use batch operations where possible
• Cache Git objects when appropriate
• Consider performance implications of deep history traversal

Implementation Notes

Adding new commands

Follow the three-layer pattern: command class (CLI contract) → parser (output transform) → Git::Repository::* facade method (orchestration + rich object). See Command Implementation.

Working with paths

• Store as Pathname; use Git::EscapedPath for special chars
• Test with Unicode filenames and Windows separators

Working with repository objects

• Handle missing/invalid objects gracefully
• Test with all object types (commits, trees, blobs, tags)

Security

• Use Git::CommandLine for all command execution — it handles proper escaping
• Validate and sanitize user-supplied paths and arguments
• Document security implications in YARD
• Be aware of git hook execution risks