I built Zeet. A Git-like version Control System

🚀 Source Code

You can find the source code for Zeet on GitHub.

🎬 DEMO

Motivation

Some time back, my curiosity about the inner workings of Git led me on an exciting journey. I sifted through various resources(though not Git’s source code) to understand how Git works. Inspired, I wrote an article summarizing my findings. What stook with me from git-scm book:

The major difference between Git and any other VCS (Subversion and friends included) is the way Git thinks about its data.

Conceptually, most other systems store information as a list of file-based changes.

Git doesn’t think of or store its data this way. Instead, Git thinks of its data more like a series of snapshots of a miniature filesystem.

That insight stayed with me, but I didn't do much with it—until I stumbled upon a challenge to build a Version Control System (VCS). I embraced it eagerly, seeing it as an opportunity to transform my theoretical knowledge into a tangible project. And so, I worked on Zeet—a lightweight, Git-inspired VCS built with Node.js.

How Zeet Works

Much like Git, Zeet manages repository versions as snapshots. It uses a .zeet directory to store all its data locally, but unlike Git, the snapshots are not compressed.

The process involves three main areas:

• Working Directory: Where you edit files.
• Staging Area: Files added here are prepared for commits.
• Local Database: Stores snapshots of committed changes.

Zeet captures the essence of Git while offering simplicity for educational and hobbyist purposes.

Features of Zeet

🛠️ What Zeet Can Do

1. Repository Initialization: Create a Zeet repository with a .zeet subdirectory.
2. Staging Files: Add files to the staging area before committing.
3. Committing Changes: Save staged files to the local database with descriptive messages.
4. Branching: Work on parallel branches and switch between them effortlessly.
5. Merging: Merge branches intelligently using fast-forward or 3-way merges.
6. Conflict Detection and Resolution: Detect conflicts during merges, mark them with symbols (<<<<<<<, =======, >>>>>>>), and resolve them manually.
7. File Ignoring: Specify files to ignore using .zeetignore or .gitignore.
8. Commit History: View detailed and colorized logs of commit histories.
9. Diffs: Compare changes between commits, branches, or files.

🛑 What Zeet Cannot Do (Yet)

• Show the repository status beyond staged, untracked, or deleted files.
• Clone remote repositories.
• Perform rebase merges.

How to use Zeet

Install Zeet globally via npm:

`npm i -g zeet`

Requirements:

• Node.js v20+
• A basic understanding of CLI tools

Core Commands

1. See usage
   

   zeet --help
   

2. Initialize Repository
   

   zeet init
   

3. Stage Files
   

   zeet add <file1> <file2> ...
   

   To stage all files:
   

   zeet add .
   

4. Commit changes
   

   zeet commit -m "Your Commit message"
   

5. View commit history
   

   zeet log
   

6. Branch Management:

   1. Create a branch:
      

      zeet branch <branch-name>
      

   2. Switch branches:
      

      zeet switch <branch-name>
      

7. Merge branches
   

   zeet merge <branch-name>
   

   Merge conflicts will be detected and marked for manual resolution.

8. View diffs
   

   zeet diff <commit-hash>
   

   Compares two commits:
   

   zeet diff <commit-hash1> <commit-hash2>
   

   In place of <commit-hash>, you can alternatively specify branch or path to a file under repository.

Final toughts

Zeet is a hobby project that distills the essence of Git into a minimal yet functional version control system. While it’s not as robust as Git, it showcases the core principles of version control, making it a great tool for learning and experimenting.

Want to contribute? Head over to the Zeet repository on GitHub.

We could make Zeet even better.