git-timeshift

⚠️ ACTIVE DEVELOPMENT WARNING
This project is in active development and may have breaking changes.
for now, there is no built-in way to backup/restore changes.
ALWAYS create a manual backup of your repository before using this tool.

🕒 A tool for customizing your git commit timestamps

preview

$ gt list
Found 3 commits to be shifted across 2 days:

📅 2024-03-20:
⚡ 14:30:00 feat: add new feature
  10:45:00 fix: update tests

📅 2024-03-19:
⚡ 13:15:00 docs: update readme

$ gt set
✨ Done! Your commits now have updated timestamps

what is this?

git-timeshift is a tool that helps you customize your commit timestamps. Perfect for adjusting your github contribution patterns or organizing your commit history in a way that better reflects your coding schedule.

features

• flexible timestamp adjustment
• configurable time windows
• random time offsets for natural-looking commit patterns
• preserves commit order and relative timing
• simple command-line interface

requirements

• python 3.6+
• git-filter-repo

installation

manual installation

git clone https://github.com/richen604/git-timeshift.git
cd git-timeshift
pip install .

nix installation

you can install git-timeshift using nix in several ways:

# install directly (nix 2.4+)
nix profile install github:richen604/git-timeshift

# temporary shell with git-timeshift
nix shell github:richen604/git-timeshift

if you're using NixOS, you can add it to your system configuration:

{
  inputs.git-timeshift.url = "github:richen604/git-timeshift";
  
  outputs = { self, nixpkgs, git-timeshift }: {
    nixosConfigurations.yourHost = {
      environment.systemPackages = [
        git-timeshift.packages.${system}.default
      ];
    };
  };
}

usage

you can use either git-timeshift or the shorter alias gt:

1. initialize configuration:

$ gt init
🕒 Setting up git-timeshift configuration...
Let's customize your commit timestamps

Preferred time window start? (HH:MM) [09:00]: 
Preferred time window end? (HH:MM) [17:00]: 

✨ Configuration saved to ~/.config/git-timeshift/config.json

2. list your commits:

$ gt list
Found 2 commits to be shifted:
📅 2024-03-20:
⚡ 14:30:00 feat: add new feature
  10:45:00 fix: update tests

3. shift those timestamps:

$ gt set
Analyzing commits...
Ready to rewrite history? [y/N]: y

✨ Done! Your commits now have updated timestamps

4. modify a specific commit:

$ gt pick
1. 2024-03-20 14:30 - feat: add new feature
2. 2024-03-20 10:45 - fix: update tests

Enter commit number: 1
Enter new date (YYYY-MM-DD HH:MM): 2024-03-20 20:30

✨ Done! Your commit has been shifted

configuration

the tool will create a config file at ~/.config/git-timeshift/config.json with your preferences:

• time windows for commits
• active days
• shift strategy (earlier/later)

fallback: manual rebase method

if you encounter any issues with the automated process, you can manually adjust commit timestamps using interactive rebase:

1. start an interactive rebase:

git rebase -i HEAD~n  # replace n with number of commits to modify

2. mark commits you want to edit with edit instead of pick:

edit abc1234 feat: add new feature
pick def5678 fix: update tests

3. for each commit, amend with a new date:

git commit --amend --no-edit --date="2024-03-20 20:30:00" # or --date="$(date) for current time
git rebase --continue

todo

bugs

• times listed in preview are not the times that are set

new things

• use worktrees to allow reverting changes
• handle next day rollover
• add timezone support
• custom random time offsets
• colored output
• command completion (tab completion for shells)
• interactive mode?

boring stuff

• unit tests
• integration tests
• type hints
• improve error handling
• debian packaging
• arch packaging
• nixos packaging
• homebrew packaging
• pypi packaging
• set up github actions - semvar etc
• improve pypi metadata

license

mit license - see license file for details

acknowledgments

special thanks to:

• git-filter-repo - the powerful tool that makes this project possible