Advanced Commands

These commands provide powerful capabilities for advanced workflows.

For stacked diffs, see Stacked Diffs. For history rewriting (cherry-pick, rebase, revert), see History Rewriting. For remote operations, see Remotes. For stash, see Stash. For tags, see Tags. For debugging (bisect, show, clean), see Debugging.

Hooks

Customize behavior at key points in the version control workflow.

wit hooks <command> [hook-name]

Commands

Command	Description
`list`	Show installed hooks
`install <name>`	Install a hook from template
`remove <name>`	Remove a hook
`run <name>`	Test a hook manually

Available Hooks

Hook	Triggered
`pre-commit`	Before commit is created
`post-commit`	After commit is created
`pre-merge`	Before merge starts
`post-merge`	After merge completes

Examples

# List installed hooks
wit hooks

# Install pre-commit hook
wit hooks install pre-commit

# Test the hook
wit hooks run pre-commit

# Remove a hook
wit hooks remove pre-commit

Hook Location

Hooks are stored in .wit/hooks/. Edit them to customize behavior:

# Example pre-commit hook
#!/bin/bash
npm run lint
npm run test

For more details, see Hooks.

Submodules

Manage nested repositories within your project.

wit submodule <command> [options]

Commands

Command	Description
`add <url> <path>`	Add a submodule
`init`	Initialize submodules
`update`	Update submodules to recorded commits
`status`	Show submodule status
`foreach <cmd>`	Run command in each submodule

Examples

# Add a submodule
wit submodule add https://github.com/lib/utils.git vendor/utils

# Initialize after cloning
wit submodule init

# Update to latest recorded commits
wit submodule update

# Check status
wit submodule status

# Run a command in all submodules
wit submodule foreach "npm install"

For more details, see Submodules.

Worktrees

Work on multiple branches simultaneously with multiple working directories.

wit worktree <command> [options]

Commands

Command	Description
`add <path> <branch>`	Create new worktree
`list`	List all worktrees
`remove <path>`	Remove a worktree
`prune`	Remove stale worktree entries

Examples

# Create worktree for feature development
wit worktree add ../feature-worktree feature-branch

# List all worktrees
wit worktree list

# Remove when done
wit worktree remove ../feature-worktree

# Clean up stale entries
wit worktree prune

Use Case

# You're working on a feature but need to hotfix main
wit worktree add ../hotfix main

# Now you have two directories:
# - /project (your feature work, untouched)
# - /hotfix (clean main branch)

cd ../hotfix
# Fix the bug...
wit commit -a -m "Hotfix: critical bug"

# Go back to feature work
cd ../project
# Your feature branch is exactly as you left it!

# Clean up
wit worktree remove ../hotfix

For more details, see Worktrees.

Reflog

View reference history for recovery.

wit reflog [ref] [options]

Options

Option	Description
`expire`	Prune old reflog entries

Examples

# Show HEAD reflog
wit reflog

# Show reflog for specific branch
wit reflog main

# Prune old entries
wit reflog expire

Example Output

HEAD@{0}: commit: Add authentication
HEAD@{1}: switch: moving from feature to main
HEAD@{2}: commit: Fix login bug
HEAD@{3}: merge: feature-auth
HEAD@{4}: commit: Initial setup

The reflog is what powers wit undo. Every operation is recorded and can be reversed.

Garbage Collection

Clean up and optimize the repository.

wit gc [options]

Options

Option	Description
`--aggressive`	More thorough optimization (slower)
`--prune=<date>`	Prune objects older than date
`--prune=now`	Prune all unreachable objects immediately

Examples

# Standard garbage collection
wit gc

# Aggressive optimization
wit gc --aggressive

# Prune immediately
wit gc --prune=now

When to Run

After deleting many branches
After undoing many operations
When repository feels slow
Before backing up (reduces size)

Monorepo Scopes

Limit operations to specific paths in a monorepo.

wit scope <command> [path]

Commands

Command	Description
`set <path>`	Set the current scope
`use <preset>`	Use a predefined scope
`clear`	Clear scope (full repository)
(none)	Show current scope

Examples

# Check current scope
wit scope

# Limit to src directory
wit scope set src/

# Use preset
wit scope use frontend

# Clear scope
wit scope clear

Effect on Commands

When a scope is set:

wit scope set packages/frontend/

wit status    # Shows only frontend files
wit add .     # Stages only frontend files
wit log       # Shows commits affecting frontend
wit diff      # Shows changes in frontend only

For more details, see Monorepo Scopes.

Plumbing Commands

Low-level commands for scripting and advanced use.

hash-object

wit hash-object <file>

Calculate the hash of a file.

cat-file

wit cat-file <hash>

Display contents of an object.

ls-tree

wit ls-tree <tree-hash>

List contents of a tree object.

ls-files

wit ls-files

List files in the index.

rev-parse

wit rev-parse <rev>

Parse a revision to its hash.

for-each-ref

wit for-each-ref

Iterate over references.

update-ref

wit update-ref <ref> <hash>

Update a reference.

symbolic-ref

wit symbolic-ref <name>

Read or set a symbolic reference.

show-ref

wit show-ref

List references.

​Hooks

​Commands

​Available Hooks

​Examples

​Hook Location

​Submodules

​Commands

​Examples

​Worktrees

​Commands

​Examples

​Use Case

​Reflog

​Options

​Examples

​Example Output

​Garbage Collection

​Options

​Examples

​When to Run

​Monorepo Scopes

​Commands

​Examples

​Effect on Commands

​Plumbing Commands

​hash-object

​cat-file

​ls-tree

​ls-files

​rev-parse

​for-each-ref

​update-ref

​symbolic-ref

​show-ref

Hooks

Commands

Available Hooks

Examples

Hook Location

Submodules

Commands

Examples

Worktrees

Commands

Examples

Use Case

Reflog

Options

Examples

Example Output

Garbage Collection

Options

Examples

When to Run

Monorepo Scopes

Commands

Examples

Effect on Commands

Plumbing Commands

hash-object

cat-file

ls-tree

ls-files

rev-parse

for-each-ref

update-ref

symbolic-ref

show-ref