Repo Time Machine

Watch any Git repository being built, commit by commit.

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Ever wondered what a repository looked like five years ago?

Repo Time Machine turns Git history into an interactive timeline. Drag through time — or hit play — and watch files, contributors, languages, and project structure evolve.

What it does

Point it at any Git repository — local or public GitHub — and it generates a self-contained HTML file with:

• Interactive timeline slider
• Playback controls (0.5x to 5x speed)
• File tree at each point in history
• Language breakdown over time
• Repository growth chart
• Auto-detected milestones (first commit, tests, CI, Docker, etc.)
• Interesting statistics

No server needed. Just open the HTML file in a browser.

Installation

pip install repo-time-machine

Requires Python 3.10+ and Git.

Usage

Analyze a local repository

repo-time-machine .
repo-time-machine /path/to/repo

Analyze a public GitHub repository

repo-time-machine https://github.com/pallets/flask

Open in browser automatically

repo-time-machine https://github.com/user/repo --open

Options

repo-time-machine . --output timeline.html    # Custom output file
repo-time-machine . --max-commits 500         # Limit commits analyzed
repo-time-machine . --sample 200              # Control snapshot count
repo-time-machine . --verbose                 # Show progress
repo-time-machine --version                   # Show version

Features

Interactive Timeline

Drag the slider to travel through the repository's history. The file tree, commit details, language breakdown, and statistics all update in real-time.

Playback Mode

Hit Play and watch the repository build itself. Control speed from 0.5x to 5x.

File Tree

See the complete directory structure at any point in time. Directories are collapsible.

Language Detection

Automatic language breakdown based on file extensions. Supports 40+ languages.

Growth Chart

SVG chart showing file count growth over the repository's lifetime.

Milestone Detection

Automatically identifies interesting moments:

• 🚀 First commit
• 👥 First outside contributor
• 🧪 Tests introduced
• ⚙️ CI introduced
• 🐳 Docker added
• 🔥 Biggest commit
• 🗑️ Biggest deletion
• 📦 Dependency file added
• 📦 Commit #100, #1000, etc.

Statistics

• Repository age
• Total commits and contributors
• Most active contributor
• Busiest day
• Most changed file
• Biggest commit and deletion

Performance

Repo Time Machine handles large repositories efficiently:

Commits	Behavior
≤ 1,000	Analyze every commit
1,001–10,000	Sample ~1,000 commits
> 10,000	Sample ~1,500 commits

Milestone commits are always preserved regardless of sampling.

Example output:

Cloning repository...
Found 8,421 commits
Analyzing commit stats...
Detecting milestones...
Sampling 1,000 commits for visualization
Generating timeline...
Created repo-time-machine.html

Privacy & Security

• 100% local — no data leaves your machine
• No accounts — no authentication required
• No telemetry — no analytics or tracking
• Safe cloning — repository code is never executed
• Only Git metadata and file listings are inspected

Examples

# Analyze Flask
repo-time-machine https://github.com/pallets/flask --open

# Analyze React
repo-time-machine https://github.com/facebook/react --sample 500

# Analyze your own project
cd my-project
repo-time-machine . --open

Contributing

Contributions welcome!

git clone https://github.com/user/repo-time-machine.git
cd repo-time-machine
python -m venv .venv
source .venv/bin/activate  # Windows: .venv\Scripts\activate
pip install -e ".[dev]"

Run tests:

pytest

Roadmap

• Cumulative additions/deletions chart
• Contributor activity timeline
• File heatmap (most-changed files)
• Branch comparison
• Export to video/GIF
• Custom milestone patterns

License

MIT — see LICENSE. ""