Git Colabor

A VS Code extension + CLI that switches the Git committer + pusher identity and SSH key per repository, and manages co-authors with a better experience — built for shared machines, multiple accounts, Remote-SSH, Codespaces, and dev containers.

Why

Git gives you exactly one global identity per clone — user.name, user.email, one ssh-agent. That breaks the moment you:

• share a machine (workstation, lab box, pairing rig) and commits start landing under the wrong person;
• have several accounts (work / personal / student), each with its own SSH key, and the wrong one only fails at push time;
• develop remotely, where the repo and agent live workspace-side and local tools can't help;
• pair, and want Co-authored-by: trailers without hand-editing every commit message.

Git Colabor treats identity as explicit, per-repo, reversible and auditable state: pick an identity in the SCM view, commit, push, and revert the repo to its exact prior config when you leave. Select a co-author once and every commit message carries the trailer until you go solo.

Full requirements: docs/REQUIREMENTS.md.

Features

• Identities — name / email / SSH key profiles; applying one writes user.name, user.email, core.sshCommand, loads the key into ssh-agent, and snapshots prior config for one-command revert. Applies to every repo open in the window.
• Opt-in commit signing — right-click any keyed identity → Sign Commits with This Key (green icon = has a key, verified badge = signing active); never on by default.
• History import — every committer in the repo's history becomes an identity automatically; hide (user / machine / workspace) the ones you don't want.
• Co-authors — every identity is a potential co-author; trailers seeded into the commit template and kept in sync with the SCM commit input box.
• Safe key handling — keys are referenced in place (never copied or modified); passphrases live in session memory only (never on disk) and reach ssh-add over a UNIX-socket askpass bridge — never on argv, never in ps, never in logs. Loading a key into ssh-agent is an explicit right-click action. A broken key reference degrades to a key-less apply.
• Multi-session coordination — advisory heldBy locking warns before one window/terminal overrides another's identity.
• Audit trail — every identity change logged locally (fingerprint only) with repo / host / user / source.
• Truly remote-friendly — the extension spawns the bundled CLI with the VS Code Server's own Node; nothing depends on remote $PATH.
• The CLI is the engine — everything the UI does is scriptable via git colabor … (CLI reference), including --json output and stable exit codes.

Install

Marketplace / OpenVSX publishing is in progress (M6). Until then:

git clone --recurse-submodules git@github.com:hnrobert/vscode-git-colabor.git
cd vscode-git-colabor
pnpm install && pnpm -C git-colabor install && pnpm build
pnpm package          # → git-colabor-0.1.0.vsix

Then in VS Code: Extensions → ⋯ → Install from VSIX…

Requirements: VS Code ≥ 1.83. For terminal use of the standalone CLI: Node.js ≥ 24 (the extension itself bundles everything).

Quick start

1. Add identities — Command Palette → Git Colabor: Add Identity… (name, email, optional private key — picked from a scan of ~/.ssh or typed).
2. Use one — SCM view → Git Colabor: Identity & Co-authors → click an identity (or the status-bar item). The repo's user.* / core.sshCommand switch; an encrypted key prompts for its passphrase once per session (verify-only, no agent write). To cache the key in ssh-agent, right-click the identity → Load Key into ssh-agent.
3. Pair — the Co-authors list shows + next to everyone not yet in the commit message; click to append their Co-authored-by: trailer (the + flips to -; click again to remove). The markers follow what you type in the message box.
4. Leave clean — Git Colabor: Revert Repo Identity restores the pre-tool config; Logout Identity unloads the key from ssh-agent (your key files are never touched).

Commands

Settings

Declared but not yet enforced in 0.1.0 (tracked in plan.md): autoApplyOnRepoOpen (always on for now), conflictWarningStaleMinutes (CLI default 5 min), githubFetch, postCommitSolo, logLevel.

Security

• Private keys are referenced in place — never copied, modified, or deleted by the tool; a missing key file degrades the identity to key-less with a warning.
• Passphrases are session-scoped (extension memory, never on disk) and delivered to ssh-add/ssh through a per-session 0600 UNIX socket with a constant-time-compared token.
• The audit log records fingerprints only — never key bodies or passphrases (pinned by unit + e2e tests).

Threat model, protocol details, and explicit non-guarantees: docs/SECURITY.md.

FAQ

Does it work with git-mob? Yes — same .git-coauthors format and trailer semantics; Git Colabor never touches git-mob.co-author.

Remote-SSH / Codespaces / dev containers? Yes — all git/SSH logic runs in the CLI workspace-side; the extension just drives it.

What if I stop using it? Revert Repo Identity (or git colabor identity revert) restores the exact prior config and removes every colabor.* marker. Nothing global is left behind except an optional commit.template it set only if you had none.

Windows? Supported (config under %APPDATA%\git-colabor, icacls key permissions). The askpass socket requires the UNIX-socket support in your Node/Windows build.

Documentation

Development

pnpm install && pnpm -C git-colabor install
pnpm build && pnpm typecheck && pnpm lint && pnpm test

F5 launches an Extension Development Host. Full guide: docs/DEVELOPMENT.md.

License

Apache-2.0