wit fsck

The wit fsck (file system check) command verifies the integrity and connectivity of objects in the repository.

Overview

fsck checks for:

Corrupted objects
Missing objects
Dangling objects (unreachable)
Invalid references
Connectivity issues

Usage

# Full repository check
wit fsck

# Check specific aspects
wit fsck --connectivity-only
wit fsck --dangling
wit fsck --unreachable

# Verbose output
wit fsck --verbose

Output

$ wit fsck

Checking repository integrity...

Objects: 1,234 checked
  Blobs: 500
  Trees: 400
  Commits: 300
  Tags: 34

References: 46 checked
  Branches: 12
  Tags: 34

✓ No issues found

With Issues

$ wit fsck

Checking repository integrity...

Objects: 1,234 checked

Issues found:
  ✗ Missing object: abc123def456 (referenced by commit xyz789)
  ✗ Corrupted object: 789xyz012abc (bad header)
  ! Dangling commit: 456def789abc (unreachable)

Summary:
  Errors: 2
  Warnings: 1

Run 'wit fsck --repair' to attempt automatic fixes

Options

Option	Description
`--full`	Full check including pack files
`--connectivity-only`	Only check object connectivity
`--dangling`	Report dangling (unreachable) objects
`--unreachable`	Show all unreachable objects
`--verbose`	Verbose output
`--strict`	Strict checking mode
`--lost-found`	Write dangling objects to `.wit/lost-found/`
`--repair`	Attempt to repair issues (use with caution)

Common Checks

Object Integrity

Verifies each object:

Correct hash matches content
Valid object format
Proper compression

Connectivity

Ensures all references are valid:

Commits reference valid trees
Trees reference valid blobs and trees
Parent commits exist

References

Validates all refs:

Branches point to valid commits
Tags point to valid objects
HEAD is valid

Examples

Quick Check

# Fast connectivity check
wit fsck --connectivity-only

Find Dangling Objects

# Find unreachable commits (possibly from rebase/reset)
wit fsck --dangling

Dangling commits:
  abc123 - "WIP: feature work" (2 days ago)
  def456 - "Temp commit" (5 days ago)

# These can be recovered with:
wit checkout abc123
# Or added to lost-found:
wit fsck --lost-found

Verbose Check

$ wit fsck --verbose

Checking objects...
  [1/1234] Checking blob abc123...
  [2/1234] Checking blob def456...
  ...
  [1234/1234] Checking commit xyz789...

Checking references...
  Checking refs/heads/main...
  Checking refs/heads/feature...
  ...

All checks passed!

Strict Mode

# Stricter validation (catches more edge cases)
wit fsck --strict

Recovering Lost Data

From Dangling Objects

# Find dangling commits
wit fsck --dangling

# Recovery options:
# 1. Checkout directly
wit checkout <commit-hash>

# 2. Create a branch
wit branch recovered <commit-hash>

# 3. Cherry-pick
wit cherry-pick <commit-hash>

From Lost-Found

# Write dangling objects to lost-found
wit fsck --lost-found

# Check lost-found directory
ls .wit/lost-found/

# Objects are named by their hash
# Recover by type:
wit cat-file -t <hash>  # Check type
wit cat-file -p <hash>  # Print content

Repair Mode

Warning: Use --repair with caution. Always backup first.

# Backup first
cp -r .wit .wit.backup

# Attempt repair
wit fsck --repair

Repair can:

Remove references to missing objects
Rebuild broken links where possible
Clean up corrupted partial objects

When to Use

After System Crash

# Check for corruption after unexpected shutdown
wit fsck --full

After Disk Errors

# Verify after disk issues
wit fsck --strict

Periodic Maintenance

# Regular health check
wit fsck

Before Important Operations

# Verify before major operations
wit fsck && wit push --all

Comparison with Git

Feature	wit fsck	git fsck
Object verification	Yes	Yes
Connectivity check	Yes	Yes
Dangling detection	Yes	Yes
Lost-found recovery	Yes	Yes
Repair mode	Yes	No (manual)
Progress output	Yes	Minimal

wit gc - Garbage collection
wit reflog - Reference history
wit cat-file - Inspect objects

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fsck

wit fsck

Overview

Usage

Output

With Issues

Options

Common Checks

Object Integrity

Connectivity

References

Examples

Quick Check

Find Dangling Objects

Verbose Check

Strict Mode

Recovering Lost Data

From Dangling Objects

From Lost-Found

Repair Mode

When to Use

After System Crash

After Disk Errors

Periodic Maintenance

Before Important Operations

Comparison with Git

Get Started

Commands

Visual Interfaces

AI & Intelligence

Workflows

GitHub & Team

Advanced

Configuration

Platform

Architecture

Database

​wit fsck

​Overview

​Usage

​Output

​With Issues

​Options

​Common Checks

​Object Integrity

​Connectivity

​References

​Examples

​Quick Check

​Find Dangling Objects

​Verbose Check

​Strict Mode

​Recovering Lost Data

​From Dangling Objects

​From Lost-Found

​Repair Mode

​When to Use

​After System Crash

​After Disk Errors

​Periodic Maintenance

​Before Important Operations

​Comparison with Git

​Related

wit fsck

Overview

Usage

Output

With Issues

Options

Common Checks

Object Integrity

Connectivity

References

Examples

Quick Check

Find Dangling Objects

Verbose Check

Strict Mode

Recovering Lost Data

From Dangling Objects

From Lost-Found

Repair Mode

When to Use

After System Crash

After Disk Errors

Periodic Maintenance

Before Important Operations

Comparison with Git

Related