🎩 git-popper

Minimalist Side Repository Manager

git-popper is a lightweight yet powerful command-line tool for managing a secondary repository alongside your main repository. It helps synchronize specific files and directories, ensuring that critical or sensitive data is stored securely while maintaining seamless workflow integration.

✨ Features

• Side Repository Integration - Connect a secondary repository to your main project
• Selective Synchronization - Define specific files or directories via .gitpopper
• Data Loss Prevention - Store sensitive files securely to prevent accidental deletion
• Automated Syncing - Keep your side repository updated with your workflow
• Centralized Shared Files - Avoid duplication of common files across projects

📦 Installation

Quick Install (Recommended)

Install git-popper instantly with a single command:

curl -fsSL https://raw.githubusercontent.com/yourusername/git-popper/main/bin/git-popper | sudo tee /usr/local/bin/git-popper > /dev/null && sudo chmod +x /usr/local/bin/git-popper

Or, for local user installation (no sudo required):

mkdir -p ~/.local/bin
curl -fsSL https://raw.githubusercontent.com/yourusername/git-popper/main/bin/git-popper -o ~/.local/bin/git-popper && chmod +x ~/.local/bin/git-popper
# Then add ~/.local/bin to your PATH if not already

Manual Installation

If you've already cloned the repository:

sudo cp bin/git-popper /usr/local/bin/
sudo chmod +x /usr/local/bin/git-popper

Package Managers

Coming soon!

🛠️ Usage

Create a .gitpopper file in your project root:

## Use this as side repository
FROM https://github.com/your-side-repo.git

## Store and sync local files into this remote directory of the repository
WORKDIR projects/2025/myproject

## Sync local files into side repo to prevent losing secret files
ADD .env
ADD .secrets
ADD Makefile-dev

Execute:

git-popper sync

🔧 Commands

• git-popper sync - Synchronize local files with the side repository
• git-popper pull - Fetch the latest changes from the side repository
• git-popper push - Push local updates to the side repository
• git-popper status - Check synchronization status between local and side repository

⚠️ Best Practices

Using git-popper in conjunction with .gitignore is essential for:

• Preventing sensitive files from being committed to the main repository
• Keeping environment files protected while still allowing synchronization with a dedicated repository
• Ensuring clean repository management by avoiding clutter

🔄 Additional Use Cases

Beyond managing .env and secret files, git-popper can be leveraged for:

1. Distributing shared scripts - Store and synchronize build scripts, CI/CD configurations, or utilities without duplication
2. Managing development dependencies separately - Maintain local tools in a side repository instead of bloating the main repository
3. Tracking and synchronizing documentation - Maintain shared documents across multiple projects while updating them centrally

🚀 Performance

git-popper is designed to be lightweight with minimal dependencies, ensuring:

• Fast synchronization even with large files
• Low memory footprint
• Efficient operation on CI/CD pipelines and resource-constrained environments

📜 License

This project is released under the MIT License. See the LICENSE file for details.

🤝 Contributing

Contributions are welcome! Please feel free to submit a Pull Request. Check out our contribution guidelines for more information.

🔍 Roadmap

• Support for multiple side repositories
• Web interface for repository management
• Integration with popular CI/CD platforms
• Advanced conflict resolution

👤 Author

Francesco Bianco