qen 0.1.2

A tiny, extensible tool for organizing multi-repository development work

QEN: A Developer Nest for Multi-Repo Innovation

QEN ("קֵן", nest in Biblical Hebrew) is a tiny, extensible tool for organizing multi-repository development work. A "qen" is a lightweight context—a safe, structured "nest"—where complex feature development can incubate across multiple repos.

QEN gathers all context for a project (code, specs, artifacts, etc.) into a single managed folder inside a central meta repository.

Quick Start

1. Initialize qen

From within or near your meta repository:

qen init

This finds the meta repo, extracts your organization from git remotes, and stores configuration in $XDG_CONFIG_HOME/qen/config.toml.

2. Create a project

qen init my-project

This creates:

• Git branch: YYYY-MM-DD-my-project
• Project directory: proj/YYYY-MM-DD-my-project/
• Configuration files:
  • README.md - Project documentation stub
  • pyproject.toml - Repository configuration with [tool.qen] section
  • repos/ - Gitignored directory for sub-repositories
• User config: $XDG_CONFIG_HOME/qen/projects/my-project.toml

The project is automatically set as your current project.

3. Add repositories

cd meta/proj/YYYY-MM-DD-my-project/

# Add a repository using different formats
qen add https://github.com/myorg/myrepo    # Full URL
qen add myorg/myrepo                       # org/repo format
qen add myrepo                             # Uses org from config

# Add with specific branch
qen add myorg/myrepo --branch develop

# Add with custom path
qen add myorg/myrepo --path repos/custom-name

The repository will be:

• Cloned to repos/myrepo/
• Added to pyproject.toml in the [[tool.qen.repos]] section
• Tracked with its URL, branch, and local path

4. Next steps

# Check status across all repos (planned)
qen status

# Sync changes across repos (planned)
qen sync

Current Status

Implemented:

• qen init - Initialize qen configuration
• qen init <project> - Create new project with branch, directory structure, and configuration
• qen add - Add sub-repositories to current project with flexible URL formats

Planned:

• qen status - Show git status across all sub-repos
• qen sync - Push and pull sub-repos

Philosophy

QEN is intentionally small. It creates structure without dictating workflow.

Design principles:

• Context over configuration - Minimal manifests, maximum clarity
• Always latest - Work with current branches (checkpoints optional)
• Zero global state - XDG-compliant configuration per project
• Human-readable - Simple directory structures and TOML configs

Development

Setup

# Install with dev dependencies
uv pip install -e ".[dev]"

Testing

# Run tests
poe test

# Run tests with coverage
poe test-cov

# Type checking
poe typecheck

# Lint and format
poe lint

# Version management
poe version                    # Show current version
poe version -b patch           # Bump patch version (commit only)
poe version -b minor --tag     # Bump minor, create release tag v0.X.0, push
poe version -b major --dev     # Bump major, create dev tag v1.0.0-dev, push

Project Structure

src/
├── qen/          # Main CLI and project management
│   ├── cli.py              # Command-line interface
│   ├── config.py           # QEN configuration management
│   ├── project.py          # Project creation and structure
│   ├── git_utils.py        # Git operations
│   ├── repo_utils.py       # Repository URL parsing and cloning
│   ├── pyproject_utils.py  # pyproject.toml management
│   └── commands/
│       ├── init.py         # Init command implementation
│       └── add.py          # Add command implementation
└── qenvy/        # Reusable XDG-compliant config library
    ├── storage.py          # Profile-based config storage
    ├── base.py             # Core config management
    ├── formats.py          # TOML/JSON handlers
    └── types.py            # Type definitions

License

MIT License