$ vcspull · Python Package License Code Coverage

Manage and sync multiple git, svn, and mercurial repos via JSON or YAML file. Compare to myrepos, mu-repo. Built on libvcs.

Great if you use the same repos at the same locations across multiple machines or want to clone / update a pattern of repos without having to cd into each one.

  • clone / update to the latest repos with $ vcspull

  • use filters to specify a location, repo url or pattern in the manifest to clone / update

  • supports svn, git, hg version control systems

  • automatically checkout fresh repositories

  • supports pip-style URL’s (RFC3986-based url scheme)

See the documentation, configuration examples, and config generators.

How to

Install

$ pip install --user vcspull

Or using uv:

$ uv tool install vcspull

For one-time use without installation:

$ uvx vcspull

Developmental releases

You can test the unpublished version of vcspull before its released.

  • pip:

    $ pip install --user --upgrade --pre vcspull

  • pipx:

    $ pipx install --suffix=@next 'vcspull' --pip-args '\--pre' --force

    Then use vcspull@next sync [config]....

  • uv:

    $ uv tool install --prerelease=allow vcspull

Configuration

Add your repos to ~/.vcspull.yaml. You can edit the file by hand or let vcspull add or vcspull discover create entries for you.

~/code/:
  flask: "git+https://github.com/mitsuhiko/flask.git"
~/study/c:
  awesome: "git+git://git.naquadah.org/awesome.git"
~/study/data-structures-algorithms/c:
  libds: "git+https://github.com/zhemao/libds.git"
  algoxy:
    repo: "git+https://github.com/liuxinyu95/AlgoXY.git"
    remotes:
      tony: "git+ssh://[email protected]/tony/AlgoXY.git"

(see the author’s .vcspull.yaml, more configuration)

$HOME/.vcspull.yaml and $XDG_CONFIG_HOME/vcspull/ (~/.config/vcspull) can be used as a declarative manifest to clone your repos consistently across machines. Subsequent syncs of initialized repos will fetch the latest commits.

Add repositories from the CLI

Register a single repository without touching YAML manually:

$ vcspull add my-lib https://github.com/example/my-lib.git --path ~/code/my-lib

  • Omit --path to default the entry under ./.

  • Use -w/--workspace when you want to force a specific workspace root, e.g. -w ~/projects/libs.

  • Pass -f/--file to add to an alternate YAML file.

  • Use --dry-run to preview changes before writing.

  • Follow with vcspull sync my-lib to clone or update the working tree after registration.

Discover local checkouts and add en masse

Have a directory tree full of cloned Git repositories? Scan and append them to your configuration:

$ vcspull discover ~/code --recursive

The scan shows each repository before import unless you opt into --yes. Add -w ~/code/ to pin the resulting workspace root or -f to write somewhere other than the default ~/.vcspull.yaml.

Inspect configured repositories

List what vcspull already knows about without mutating anything:

$ vcspull list
$ vcspull list --tree
$ vcspull list --json | jq '.[].name'

--json emits a single JSON array, while --ndjson streams newline-delimited objects that are easy to consume from shell pipelines.

Check repository status

Get a quick health check for all configured workspaces:

$ vcspull status
$ vcspull status --detailed
$ vcspull status --ndjson | jq --slurp 'map(select(.reason == "summary"))'

The status command respects --workspace/-w filters and the global --color {auto,always,never} flag. JSON and NDJSON output mirrors the list command for automation workflows.

Normalize configuration files

After importing or editing by hand, run the formatter to tidy up keys and keep entries sorted:

$ vcspull fmt -f ~/.vcspull.yaml --write

Use vcspull fmt --all --write to format every YAML file that vcspull can discover under the standard config locations.

Sync your repos

$ vcspull sync

Preview planned work with Terraform-style plan output or emit structured data for CI/CD:

$ vcspull sync --dry-run "*"
$ vcspull sync --dry-run --show-unchanged "workspace-*"
$ vcspull sync --dry-run --json "*" | jq '.summary'
$ vcspull sync --dry-run --ndjson "*" | jq --slurp 'map(select(.type == "summary"))'

Dry runs stream a progress line when stdout is a TTY, then print a concise plan summary (+/~/✓/⚠/✗) grouped by workspace. Use --summary-only, --relative-paths, --long, or -v/-vv for alternate views, and --fetch/--offline to control how remote metadata is refreshed.

Keep nested VCS repositories updated too, lets say you have a mercurial or svn project with a git dependency:

external_deps.yaml in your project root (any filename will do):

./vendor/:
  sdl2pp: "git+https://github.com/libSDL2pp/libSDL2pp.git"

Clone / update repos via config file:

$ vcspull sync -f external_deps.yaml '*'

See the Quickstart for more.

Pulling specific repos

Have a lot of repos?

you can choose to update only select repos through fnmatch patterns. remember to add the repos to your ~/.vcspull.{json,yaml} first.

The patterns can be filtered by by directory, repo name or vcs url.

Any repo starting with “fla”:

$ vcspull sync "fla*"

Any repo with django in the name:

$ vcspull sync "*django*"

Search by vcs + url, since urls are in this format +://:

$ vcspull sync "git+*"

Any git repo with python in the vcspull:

$ vcspull sync "git+*python*

Any git repo with django in the vcs url:

$ vcspull sync "git+*django*"

All repositories in your ~/code directory:

$ vcspull sync "$HOME/code/*"
_images/vcspull-demo.gif

Donations

Your donations fund development of new features, testing and support. Your money will go directly to maintenance and development of the project. If you are an individual, feel free to give whatever feels right for the value you get out of the project.

See donation options at https://tony.sh/support.html.

More information

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