gc init and gc rig add generate incomplete .gitignore

[donbox]

Problem

Our current directory structure is ambiguous wrt definition, local binding, and managed state. In an ideal world, we'd just put the managed state directories in .gitignore and be happy. Currently, gc init and gc rig add produce the following .gitignore:

.dolt/
*.db
.beads-credential-key

Leaving the user unclear about what (if anything) from .beads or .gc needs to go into their repo (or copied to make another city).

Related

• feat: Clean state separation (sharable vs. local, city vs. rig). #159 — Clean state separation (sharable vs. local, city vs. rig)

Suggestion

gc init should generate a city-root .gitignore that covers .gc/, .beads/, and hooks/ at minimum. The current generated .gitignore only covers .dolt/ internals, which is a subset of what needs to be excluded.

[julianknutsen]

Wasteland sync — GitHub issue closed, awaiting operator decision

Field	Value
Wanted ID	w-93acb2a9d2
WL Status	open
GH Status	closed (completed)
Commons	hop/wl-commons
Closed by	julianknutsen via commit a31eda9
Closed at	2026-04-12T00:29:27Z

GitHub issue was closed by a direct commit. The corresponding Wasteland item is still open. Awaiting operator decision on disposition (complete/close/withdraw).

[julianknutsen]

Bug confirmed — ready for fix

Classification: kind/bug · priority/p2 · status/accepted

Investigation summary

Reproduced on both the reported build (v0.13.4) and current main (894861a) with 100% failure rate.

Root cause: gc init (doInit) creates runtime-state directories (.gc/, .beads/, hooks/, .runtime/) but has zero .gitignore generation code. The existing .gitignore entries (.dolt/, *.db, .beads-credential-key) come from bd init (the beads/dolt subsystem), not from any gc command. This is a gap since initial implementation — the code path never existed.

Fix shape:

1. Add an ensureGitignoreEntries helper (idempotent append) — likely in cmd/gc/gitignore.go
2. Call from doInit for city-level entries: .gc/, .beads/, hooks/, .runtime/
3. Optionally call from doRigAdd for rig-level entries: .beads/
4. Unit tests asserting .gitignore content after init

Prior art: PR #615 prototyped this exact approach; it was closed for process reasons, not technical deficiency.

References: #159 (design confirming correct entries), #360 (broader pack/city redesign — orthogonal to this fix)