git-tunnel 0.1.2

Visualize git history as per-machine tunnels in your terminal

git-tunnel

Visualize your git history as per-machine tunnels in the terminal.

If you work across multiple machines like me — a MacBook, a Workstation, a Server — git log treats them all the same which can be very annoying at some points. git-tunnel splits each machine into its own colored column so you can see at a glance where every commit was made.

────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────
  TIME              │ pre git-tunnel                       │ MacBook                              │ Workstation                          │ HASH
────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────
  2 hours ago       │ · · · · · · · · · · · · · ·          │ WIP: invoice route                   │ · · · · · · · · · · · · · ·          │ 2c4930f
  3 hours ago       │ · · · · · · · · · · · · · ·          │ · · · · · · · · · · · · · ·          │ finished validation                  │ 6f46c9f
  1 day ago         │ added model                          │ · · · · · · · · · · · · · ·          │ · · · · · · · · · · · · · ·          │ fd7bcad
  1 day ago         │ initial setup                        │ · · · · · · · · · · · · · ·          │ · · · · · · · · · · · · · ·          │ f3bc95b
────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────

  ■ pre git-tunnel   ■ MacBook   ■ Workstation

Commits made before git-tunnel was installed appear in a plain white pre git-tunnel column — no history rewriting, no warnings.

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Install

The recommended way to install git-tunnel is with pipx or uv — both install it into an isolated environment and expose the git-tunnel command globally. This avoids the externally-managed-environment error you get with bare pip on Ubuntu 23.04+ and other modern Linux distros.

pipx (recommended for most users):

pipx install git-tunnel

uv (if you already use uv):

uv tool install git-tunnel

pip (virtualenv or older systems only):

pip install git-tunnel

On Ubuntu 23.04+, Debian 12+, and similar distros, using pip install system-wide will likely fail with an externally-managed-environment error. Use pipx or uv tool install instead.

Don't have pipx? Install it first:

# Ubuntu / Debian
sudo apt install pipx
pipx ensurepath

# macOS
brew install pipx
pipx ensurepath

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Install (once per machine)

Run the interactive install:

git-tunnel install

This will:

• Ask for a device name (e.g. MacBook, Workstation, Server)
• Set git config --global user.device
• Install the prepare-commit-msg hook globally
• Point git config --global core.hooksPath at the hook

From this point on, every commit you make will automatically get a [device:YourDevice] tag appended to the message — silently, without you doing anything.

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Usage

Inside any git repo:

# Compact view (messages truncated)
git-tunnel

# Full view (complete commit messages)
git-tunnel --all

Not sure what's available? Run:

git-tunnel --help

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How it works

git-tunnel uses a global prepare-commit-msg hook that appends a [device:X] tag to every commit message, where X comes from git config --global user.device.

Your user.name is never touched — it stays clean for collaboration. The device tag lives in the commit message body and is stripped from the display in the tunnel view.

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Multiple machines

Set a different device name on each machine:

# MacBook
git-tunnel install  # enter "MacBook" when prompted

# Workstation
git-tunnel install  # enter "Workstation" when prompted

# Server
git-tunnel install  # enter "Server" when prompted

Since the hook is global, it applies to every repo on that machine automatically.

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Zero dependencies

git-tunnel uses only the Python standard library and git itself. No third-party packages required.

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License

MIT