project notes from Grit https://grit-scm.com/blog/ Short deep dives into building a Git-compatible, library-oriented Rust implementation. Sat, 20 Jun 2026 00:00:00 +0000 grit is now the simple CLI https://grit-scm.com/blog/grit-is-now-the-simple-cli/ https://grit-scm.com/blog/grit-is-now-the-simple-cli/ Sat, 20 Jun 2026 00:00:00 +0000 The grit binary you install is now the simple, library-first CLI. The fully git-compatible mirror moves to grit-git. We've changed what the grit binary is. If you install grit today — via the shell script, the PowerShell script, or cargo install grit-cli — you now get a small, simple Git client built directly on top of the grit-lib library. The fully git-compatible, command-for-command mirror of git is still here, but it now lives under a different name: grit-git.

What changed

Until now, the installed grit binary was the compatibility mirror: a faithful reimplementation of the git command line, plumbing and porcelain included, built to eventually pass Git's own test suite. That binary hasn't gone anywhere — it has simply been renamed to grit-git.

The name grit now points at what used to be the grit-simple experiment (briefly shipped as gs). It's a deliberately small, opinionated CLI that shows off what the grit-lib library can do without trying to reproduce every corner of Git's surface area.

In short:

  • grit — the simple, library-first CLI. This is what the installers give you.
  • grit-git — the full git-compatible mirror, our benchmark against upstream Git.

Why make the swap

Compatibility is still the project's benchmark, and grit-git is how we measure it. But the more interesting story for most people is grit-lib: a Git engine you can embed, reason about, and build on without shelling out to git. The simple grit CLI is the most direct way to see that library in action, so it makes sense for it to be the thing you get by default.

If you want the compatibility mirror, build or run grit-git from the workspace. If you just want to try grit, the install command hasn't changed — you'll now land on the simpler, friendlier CLI.

]]> Introducing Grit https://grit-scm.com/blog/introducing-grit/ https://grit-scm.com/blog/introducing-grit/ Fri, 05 Jun 2026 00:00:00 +0000 A short note on rebuilding Git in Rust, as a library, with compatibility as the benchmark. Grit is a from-scratch reimplementation of Git in Rust. The goal is not to make a Git-like tool with a nicer surface area, but to build a compatible Git engine that can eventually pass the upstream Git test suite.

Why rebuild Git?

Git is everywhere, but much of its behavior is encoded in a large C codebase that grew around a command-line program. That history is part of what makes Git powerful, but it also makes Git hard to embed, hard to experiment with, and hard to reason about as a set of reusable library components.

Grit started from a simple question: what would Git look like if it were designed today as an idiomatic Rust library first, with the CLI as a thin wrapper around that library?

What we want from it

The project is focused on compatibility. Passing Git's own tests gives us a concrete target and lets us use agents to give us a solid starting point.

Why now?

A library-oriented Git implementation opens the door to better developer tools, servers, agents, and experiments that need Git semantics without shelling out to git. Grit is an attempt to make that foundation small, explicit, testable, and embeddable.

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