GitLinq

Query your Git commit history using LINQ-like syntax directly from the command line.

Features

• 🔍 LINQ-like Query Syntax - Use familiar C# LINQ methods to query commits
• 🎯 Interactive Mode - REPL with autocomplete and command history
• ⚡ CLI Mode - Execute single queries for scripting and automation
• 📊 Rich Output - Beautiful tables powered by Spectre.Console
• 🔧 Extensible Commands - Built-in help, examples, and history commands

Installation

Prerequisites

• .NET 8.0 SDK or later

Install from NuGet (Recommended)

dotnet tool install --global GitLinq

Build from Source

git clone https://github.com/williamguilhermesouza/gitlinq.git
cd gitlinq/src
dotnet build
dotnet run

Install from Source as Global Tool

cd src
dotnet pack -c Release
dotnet tool install --global --add-source ./bin/Release GitLinq

Usage

Interactive Mode

Simply run gitlinq inside any Git repository:

gitlinq

You'll enter an interactive REPL where you can type queries:

GitLinq - Query git commits using LINQ-like syntax
Type 'help' for available commands or enter a query.

gitlinq> Commits.Take(5)

Command Line Mode

Execute a single query and exit:

gitlinq -q "Commits.Take(10)"
gitlinq --query "Commits.Where(c => c.Message.Contains(\"fix\"))"

Command Line Options

Option	Description
-q, --query <query>	Execute a single query and exit
-h, --help	Show help message

Environment Variables

Variable	Description
GITLINQ_DEBUG=1	Enable debug mode for troubleshooting terminal/encoding issues

Query Syntax

GitLinq supports a LINQ-like query syntax to filter, transform, and aggregate commits.

Data Sources

Source	Description
Commits	Full commit information including diff data via the Diff property

Commits Properties

Property	Type	Description
Sha	string	Full commit SHA hash
Message	string	Full commit message
MessageShort	string	First line of commit message
AuthorName	string	Author's name
AuthorEmail	string	Author's email
AuthorWhen	DateTimeOffset	Author timestamp
Diff	DiffData	File changes, lines added/deleted for this commit

Diff Property (DiffData)

Property	Type	Description
Files	List<FileChange>	List of changed files
TotalLinesAdded	int	Sum of lines added across all files
TotalLinesDeleted	int	Sum of lines deleted across all files
FilesChanged	int	Number of files changed

FileChange Properties

Property	Type	Description
Path	string	File path
OldPath	string?	Previous path (for renamed files)
Status	string	Change type: Added, Deleted, Modified, Renamed
LinesAdded	int	Lines added in this file
LinesDeleted	int	Lines deleted in this file
IsBinary	bool	Whether file is binary
AddedContent	List<string>	Actual text lines that were added
DeletedContent	List<string>	Actual text lines that were deleted

FileChange Methods (for content searching)

Method	Description	Example
AddedContains(text)	Check if any added line contains text (case-insensitive)	f.AddedContains("TODO")
DeletedContains(text)	Check if any deleted line contains text (case-insensitive)	f.DeletedContains("bug")
ContentContains(text)	Check if any changed line (added or deleted) contains text	f.ContentContains("password")

Supported Methods

Method	Description	Example
Take(n)	Get first n commits	Commits.Take(10)
Skip(n)	Skip first n commits	Commits.Skip(5)
First()	Get first commit	Commits.First()
First(predicate)	Get first matching commit	Commits.First(c => c.Message.Contains("fix"))
FirstOrDefault()	Get first commit or null	Commits.FirstOrDefault()
FirstOrDefault(predicate)	Get first matching or null	Commits.FirstOrDefault(c => c.AuthorName.Contains("Alice"))
Where(predicate)	Filter commits	Commits.Where(c => c.Message.Contains("feat"))
Select(selector)	Project commits	Commits.Select(c => c.Message)
OrderBy(selector)	Sort ascending	Commits.OrderBy(c => c.AuthorName)
OrderByDescending(selector)	Sort descending	Commits.OrderByDescending(c => c.AuthorWhen)
Count()	Count all commits	Commits.Count()
Count(predicate)	Count matching commits	Commits.Count(c => c.AuthorName.Contains("Bob"))
Any()	Check if commits exist	Commits.Any()
Any(predicate)	Check if any match	Commits.Any(c => c.Message.Contains("hotfix"))

String Methods in Predicates

Method	Example
Contains(text)	c.Message.Contains("fix")
StartsWith(text)	c.Message.StartsWith("feat")
EndsWith(text)	c.Message.EndsWith("!")

Comparison Operators in Predicates

Operator	Example
>	d.FilesChanged > 5
<	d.TotalLinesAdded < 100
>=	d.FilesChanged >= 3
<=	d.TotalLinesDeleted <= 10
==	d.FilesChanged == 1
!=	d.FilesChanged != 0

Example Queries

Basic Commit Queries

# Get all commits
Commits

# Get the first 10 commits
Commits.Take(10)

# Pagination: skip 5, take 10
Commits.Skip(5).Take(10)

# Get the most recent commit
Commits.First()

# Count total commits
Commits.Count()

# Find commits with 'fix' in message
Commits.Where(c => c.Message.Contains("fix"))

# Find commits by author
Commits.Where(c => c.AuthorName.Contains("Alice"))

# Find commits starting with 'feat' (conventional commits)
Commits.Where(c => c.Message.StartsWith("feat"))

# Find first commit mentioning 'bug'
Commits.First(c => c.Message.Contains("bug"))

# Check if any hotfix commits exist
Commits.Any(c => c.Message.Contains("hotfix"))

# Count commits by a specific author
Commits.Count(c => c.AuthorName.Contains("Bob"))

# Chain multiple operations
Commits.Where(c => c.AuthorName.Contains("Alice")).Take(5)

Diff Queries (with file change statistics)

# Find commits that changed more than 5 files
Commits.Where(c => c.Diff.FilesChanged > 5)

# Find commits with more than 100 lines added
Commits.Where(c => c.Diff.TotalLinesAdded > 100).Take(10)

# Find commits with significant deletions
Commits.Where(c => c.Diff.TotalLinesDeleted >= 50)

# Get files changed in the most recent commit
Commits.First().Diff.Files

# Find single-file commits
Commits.Where(c => c.Diff.FilesChanged == 1).Take(10)

# Find large refactoring commits (many files, many changes)
Commits.Where(c => c.Diff.FilesChanged >= 10).Take(5)

# Combine commit message filtering with diff statistics
Commits.Where(c => c.Message.Contains("refactor")).Where(c => c.Diff.FilesChanged > 3)

Diff Content Queries (search actual code changes)

# Find commits that added a TODO comment
Commits.Where(c => c.Diff.Files.Any(f => f.AddedContains("TODO")))

# Find commits that removed code containing "bug"
Commits.Where(c => c.Diff.Files.Any(f => f.DeletedContains("bug")))

# Find commits that touched code containing "password" (added or deleted)
Commits.Where(c => c.Diff.Files.Any(f => f.ContentContains("password")))

# Find commits that added "console.log" (for debugging cleanup)
Commits.Where(c => c.Diff.Files.Any(f => f.AddedContains("console.log")))

# Find commits where a specific function was modified
Commits.Where(c => c.Diff.Files.Any(f => f.ContentContains("myFunction")))

# View the actual added lines in the most recent commit's first file
Commits.First().Diff.Files.First().AddedContent

Interactive Commands

Command	Aliases	Description
help	h, ?	Show available commands
examples	ex, samples	Show example queries
history	hist	Show command history
clear	cls	Clear the screen
exit	quit, q	Exit GitLinq

Architecture

src/
├── Program.cs              # Entry point, CLI handling, REPL loop
├── QueryParser.cs          # Sprache-based LINQ parser
├── LinqExpressionBuilder.cs # AST to LINQ Expression converter
├── AutoCompletionHandler.cs # Tab completion for REPL
├── AST/                    # Abstract Syntax Tree nodes
│   ├── BaseNode.cs
│   ├── IdentifierNode.cs
│   ├── StringLiteralNode.cs
│   ├── NumberLiteralNode.cs
│   ├── MemberAccessNode.cs
│   ├── MethodCallNode.cs
│   ├── LambdaNode.cs
│   └── BinaryNode.cs
├── Commands/               # Interactive command system
│   ├── ICommand.cs
│   ├── CommandRegistry.cs
│   ├── HelpCommand.cs
│   ├── ExamplesCommand.cs
│   ├── HistoryCommand.cs
│   ├── Clear.cs
│   └── ExitCommand.cs
├── Diagnostics/            # Debug and troubleshooting utilities
│   └── DebugHelper.cs      # Environment info, terminal detection
├── Models/                 # Domain models
│   ├── CommitInfo.cs       # Git commit data
│   ├── DiffData.cs         # Diff statistics and content search
│   ├── FileChange.cs       # Individual file change data
│   └── MatchedLine.cs      # Matched content with context
├── Services/               # External service integrations
│   └── GitService.cs       # Git repository operations (LibGit2Sharp)
└── UI/                     # User interface components
    ├── ResultDisplay.cs    # Query result rendering (tables, content)
    └── HelpDisplay.cs      # CLI help output

Dependencies

• LibGit2Sharp - Git repository access
• Sprache - Parser combinator library
• Spectre.Console - Beautiful console output
• ReadLine - GNU Readline-like input with history

Development

Running Tests

dotnet test

Project Structure

• src/ - Main application source code
  • AST/ - Abstract Syntax Tree node types
  • Commands/ - REPL command implementations
  • Diagnostics/ - Debug and troubleshooting utilities
  • Models/ - Domain models (CommitInfo, DiffData, etc.)
  • Services/ - External integrations (Git via LibGit2Sharp)
  • UI/ - Display and rendering components
• tests/ - Unit tests for parser and expression builder

Troubleshooting

If you encounter issues (especially on Windows PowerShell or CMD), enable debug mode:

# Windows PowerShell
$env:GITLINQ_DEBUG="1"
gitlinq

# Windows CMD
set GITLINQ_DEBUG=1
gitlinq

# Linux/macOS
GITLINQ_DEBUG=1 gitlinq

Debug mode displays:

• OS and .NET runtime information
• Console encoding settings (important for quote handling)
• Terminal type detection
• Input byte analysis (helps identify encoding issues)

Common Issues:

• "No commits found" when using Contains(): This was caused by null bytes being inserted by the ReadLine library on some Windows terminals. Fixed in v0.0.2+.
• Garbled output: Ensure your terminal supports UTF-8. The tool sets UTF-8 encoding automatically.

Contributing

Contributions are welcome! Please feel free to submit a Pull Request.

1. Fork the repository
2. Create your feature branch (git checkout -b feature/amazing-feature)
3. Commit your changes (git commit -m 'Add some amazing feature')
4. Push to the branch (git push origin feature/amazing-feature)
5. Open a Pull Request

Reporting Issues

Found a bug or have a feature request?

• GitHub Issues: Open an issue on the repository
• Email: Contact me directly at williamguilhermesouza@gmail.com

When reporting bugs, please include:

• GitLinq version (dotnet tool list -g | Select-String GitLinq)
• Operating system and terminal being used
• Steps to reproduce the issue
• Any error messages or unexpected output

License

This project is licensed under the MIT License - see the LICENSE file for details.

Roadmap

• Support for branches and tags queries
• Date range filtering (c.AuthorWhen > "2024-01-01")
• File change statistics per commit
• Export results to JSON/CSV
• Configuration file support
• More LINQ methods (Last, Single, Distinct, GroupBy)

---

Made by William Guilherme using .NET 8.0