gitkeep

A CLI tool for maintaining local archives of users and organizations on GitHub, GitLab, Forgejo, and Gitea. Point it at one or more accounts and it clones every repo, then keeps them up to date on subsequent runs.

Download

Pre-built binaries are available on the releases page.

Platform	Architecture	Download
Linux	x86_64	gitkeep-x86_64-unknown-linux-musl
Linux	ARM64	gitkeep-aarch64-unknown-linux-musl
macOS	x86_64	gitkeep-x86_64-apple-darwin
macOS	ARM64 (Apple Silicon)	gitkeep-aarch64-apple-darwin
Windows	x86_64	gitkeep-x86_64-pc-windows-gnu.exe
Windows	ARM64	gitkeep-aarch64-pc-windows-gnullvm.exe

Install

With cargo

cargo install gitkeep

From source

git clone https://github.com/trypsynth/gitkeep
cd gitkeep
cargo install --path .

Quick start

gitkeep init          # set archive directory and clone URL preference
gitkeep login         # authenticate with a GitHub personal access token
gitkeep add trypsynth # add a user (clones all their repos immediately)
gitkeep sync          # sync everything
gitkeep list          # show what's tracked

Commands

init

Configure the archive directory, whether to use SSH or HTTPS clone URLs, whether to clone submodules by default, and whether repos are cloned immediately when added. Re-run at any time to update settings; your token and tracked users are preserved.

login

Authenticate with a GitHub personal access token. Opens the token creation page in your browser, validates the token, and saves it to config. Also offers to add your own account to the tracked list (defaults to yes).

add <TARGET>...

Add one or more GitHub users, orgs, or individual repos to the archive list and clone them immediately. A target is either a plain username/org (tracks the whole account) or user/repo (pins just that one repo). Adding user/repo for a repo you removed from a tracked account starts syncing it again. Several repos from one owner can be listed as user/a,b,c.

Repos on other forges are given as URLs (or as host/path): gitkeep add https://gitlab.example.com/some-group tracks a GitLab group (including subgroups), gitkeep add https://codeberg.org/some-user tracks a Forgejo user or org, and a URL to a single project adds just that one. GitLab and Forgejo (such as Codeberg) are supported, as is Gitea, which shares Forgejo's API. The first time you add something from a host, gitkeep detects which forge it runs and records it in the config. These archives are stored under <host>/<namespace>/<project>, and everywhere such a repo is referenced (remove, sync, list) uses the same host/namespace/project format, or the full URL. Public repos work without authentication; for private ones, add a personal access token for that host to the config (kind is gitlab or forgejo):

[hosts."gitlab.example.com"]
kind = "gitlab"
token = "glpat-..."

Flag	Description
--forks	Include forked repositories for these accounts
--frozen	Track the account but never update it during bulk syncs
--submodules	Clone submodules for these accounts/repos, overriding the global default
--no-submodules	Never clone submodules for these accounts/repos, overriding the global default
--no-sync	Add to the tracked list without cloning right now, overriding the config default
--sync	Clone immediately after adding, overriding a no_sync = true config default

sync [TARGET]... (alias: run)

Sync every tracked account that isn't frozen, plus individually tracked repos. Pass targets (in the same forms as add) to sync only those instead, including frozen accounts; naming a repo inside a tracked account syncs that account. Targets that aren't tracked yet are added first, just like add.

Flag	Description
--forks	Include forks for this run only (does not save to config)
--submodules	Clone submodules for this run only (does not save to config)
-p, --pull-only	Only pull existing repos; skip checking for new ones
-n, --new-only	Only clone new repos; skip pulling existing ones
-q, --quiet	Suppress all output except errors and the final summary
-v, --verbose	Show raw git output and per-repo detail

A sync that fails to pull an existing repo because it no longer matches what's on GitHub (e.g. the owner/name was deleted and recreated as a different repo) automatically deletes the stale local clone and re-clones it.

list (alias: ls)

Show all tracked users and orgs, including any per-account flags, individually tracked repos, and repos removed from tracked accounts.

size (alias: du)

Show the on-disk size of the archive, broken down per account.

Flag	Description
-s, --format <FORMAT>	Unit format: decimal (kB/MB/GB, base 1000), binary (KiB/MiB/GiB, base 1024, default), or raw (exact byte count)

remove <TARGET>... (alias: rm)

Stop tracking one or more users, orgs, or repos. Accepts either a plain username/org or user/repo. A user/repo target can be an individually pinned repo or a single repo under a fully tracked account; the latter is left out of future syncs while the rest of the account keeps syncing (run gitkeep add user/repo to undo). Like add, it accepts user/a,b,c to name several repos from one owner. GitLab projects work the same way as host/namespace/project (or the URL), including removing one project from a tracked group. Prompts to delete the local archive directory; pass --delete to skip the prompt. If a target isn't tracked as a full user but has individually pinned repos under it, prompts to remove those too.

Flag	Description
-d, --delete	Also delete the local archive directory for these targets
-y, --yes	Skip all confirmation prompts, assuming "yes"

Development

Formatting relies on unstable rustfmt options (see rustfmt.toml), which stable rustfmt silently ignores. Format with the nightly toolchain:

rustup toolchain install nightly --component rustfmt
cargo +nightly fmt

CI enforces this the same way, via cargo fmt -- --check on the nightly toolchain.

License

gitkeep is licensed under the MIT License.