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MQY
MQY

Posted on • Edited on

Clay - Lightweight Version Control System

#programming #cpp #git

Clay - Lightweight Version Control System

See here https://github.com/MengAiDev/clay !!
Shape your code history like clay

🌟 Overview

Clay is a lightweight version control system designed for rapid prototyping, simpler and more intuitive than Git, perfect for:

  • Early-stage project iteration
  • Experimental coding
  • Teaching/learning scenarios 
# Auto-saves changes
clay init my_project  

# Rewind to any point in time  
clay rewind 10min
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🚀 Key Features

Feature Example Command
Auto-snapshots Saves code state every 30s
Time travel clay rewind 14:30
Temp branches clay branch --temp
One-click undo clay undo

📦 Installation

Linux/macOS 

git clone https://github.com/MengAiDev/clay.git  
cd clay  
mkdir build && cd build  
cmake .. && make  
sudo make install
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Windows (requires CMake) 

cmake -B build -G "Visual Studio 16 2019"  
cmake --build build --config Release
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🛠️ Basic Usage 

# Initialize repository
clay init  

# View timeline  
clay timeline  

# Manual snapshot  
clay commit "Refactor user module"  

# Rewind 5 minutes  
clay rewind 5min  

# Create temp branch  
clay branch --temp
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🆚 VS Git

Scenario Git Clay
Save state git add . && git commit -m "..." Auto-saved
Experiment Need new branch clay branch --temp (In-memory)

🌍 Philosophy

  • 🧱 Zero-config: Works out of the box
  • ⚡ Instant rewind: Version control like CTRL+Z
  • 🧪 Experiment-friendly: Temp branches won't pollute main code

🧪 Development

We welcome contribution!

📜 License

MIT License

🤝 Contributing

We welcome PRs and issues!

Top comments (4)

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jnareb profile image
Jakub Narębski •

Git object storage is:

  • deduplicated (each version of contents is stored only once)
  • objects are stored compressed (loose storage), or deltified and compressed (pack storage) after running git gc or allowing it to run automaticaly
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mengaidev profile image
MQY •

thank you. so what should I do?

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jnareb profile image
Jakub Narębski •

This means that the last line in the comparison table is not correct, or not entirely correct.

Scenario:

  • Storage:
    • Git: Object bloat
    • Clay: Delta-compressed

Anyway, while I think that Clay might be a useful tool for a lone developer, the things that are (supposedly) its strength in that area, are also significant disadvantages for the use of version control system for collaboration - where small, self contained, and well described commits are the key.

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mengaidev profile image
MQY • • Edited

@jakub Narębski

Thank you for the insightful follow-up! You’re absolutely right on both counts!
(If you think this is good, would you like to give me a star?)

In fact, this tool is mainly for individuals to start projects quickly and write algorithmic problems