Manage Git branches with commitdog branch commands

Create, switch, delete, list, and merge branches through an interactive menu — with diff previews, merge-status warnings, and remote sync.

commitdog branch gives you an interactive menu for all common branch operations. Each subcommand is also available directly so you can jump straight to what you need without going through the menu. Branch names are validated before any git operation runs, and main and master are protected from deletion in all cases.

Commands

Command	What it does
commitdog branch	Interactive menu: switch, create, or delete
commitdog switch	Jump straight to the branch switcher
commitdog branch create	Create a new branch with an optional base
commitdog branch delete	Delete a branch locally and optionally on the remote
commitdog branch ls	List all local and remote branches
commitdog merge	Merge a branch into the current branch with a diff preview

commitdog branch

Running commitdog branch without any subcommand shows a numbered menu:

  branch:

  1  switch
  2  create new
  3  delete

  [1-3] pick, [q] quit ›

Pick a number to enter that flow, or q to quit.

commitdog switch

commitdog switch jumps directly to the branch switcher. It shows your current branch and up to five other recent branches by number, plus an e option to type a name:

  branches:

  → main (current)

  1  feat/add-auth
  2  fix/login-bug
  3  chore/update-deps

  [1-3] pick, [e] enter name, [q] quit ›

Pick a number to switch, e to type a branch name manually, or q to quit.

commitdog branch create

commitdog branch create suggests branch names if you have staged changes. Names are derived from the same diff analysis used for commit messages — added function names, file names, and the inferred scope:

  suggested branch names:

  1  feat/refresh-token
  2  feat/auth
  3  feat/middleware

  [1-3] pick, [e] enter name ›

After picking or entering a name, commitdog asks for a base branch (defaults to your current branch):

  base branch? [enter = main] ›

Once the branch is created and you are switched to it, commitdog asks whether to push the new branch to the remote:

  push feat/refresh-token to origin? [Y/n] ›

commitdog branch create
# alias: commitdog branch new

commitdog branch delete

commitdog branch delete lists all branches that can be deleted — the current branch, main, and master are never shown. Each branch is labeled (merged) or (unmerged) so you know its status at a glance:

  select branch to delete:

  1  feat/refresh-token  (merged)
  2  fix/old-bug         (unmerged)

  [1-2] pick, [q] quit ›

Selecting an unmerged branch triggers an extra confirmation warning:

  ⚠ fix/old-bug has unmerged commits.
  delete anyway? this cannot be undone. [y/N] ›

If the branch exists on the remote, commitdog then asks whether to delete it there too:

  delete fix/old-bug from origin too? [y/N] ›

commitdog branch delete
# aliases: commitdog branch del, commitdog branch rm

commitdog branch ls

commitdog branch ls prints all local and remote branches. Your current branch is highlighted with an arrow:

  branches:

  → main (current)
    feat/refresh-token
    fix/login-bug
    origin/feat/old-feature

commitdog branch ls
# alias: commitdog branch list

commitdog merge

commitdog merge lists all other branches and shows how many lines and files each one adds relative to your current branch. Branches with potential merge conflicts are flagged:

  merge into main:

  1  feat/refresh-token    +120  -5    3 files   clean
  2  fix/login-bug         +18   -2    1 files   conflict

  [1-2] pick, [q] quit ›

After picking a branch, commitdog prints per-file stats and presents three options:

  [1] merge   [2] view diff   [3] cancel ›

• Choose 1 to merge immediately.
• Choose 2 to view a paginated diff of all changes, then return to the same prompt.
• Choose 3 to cancel.

If the branch has conflicts, commitdog skips the merge/diff prompt and instead offers to run the merge with conflicts and open each conflicted file in your $EDITOR ($VISUAL or vi as fallback), so you can resolve them before committing manually.

commitdog merge