repoactive 0.0.9

Script-driven code changes with automated merge requests

repoactive - Script-driven code changes with automated merge requests

Warning: This project is in an early stage of development. Use at your own risk.

repoactive runs your scripts against a git repository and optionally keeps the corresponding merge requests up to date. You write the scripts that produce the code changes; repoactive handles the rest - branches, commits, and (with --create-prs) the full MR lifecycle.

How it works

You configure one or more jobs, each with a script (any shell command or executable) that modifies the repository's working tree. repoactive runs each script, captures the resulting diff, and records the change locally. With --create-prs it also:

• opens a new merge request if one does not already exist for that job, or
• updates the existing merge request branch if the diff has changed.

Branches and MR descriptions are managed automatically - the only code you need to write is the script that produces the change.

[your script] → diff → repoactive → branch
                                       ↓ (with --push or --create-prs)
                                    git push → merge request
                                                    ↑ (with --create-prs)
                                            (create or update)

1. repoactive creates a new commit on top of the base branch or on top of other repoactive managed branches.
2. It runs the job's script against the working tree.
3. If the script produced a diff, it records the change. With --push or --create-prs, it pushes the branch; with --create-prs, it also creates or updates the merge request.
4. If the script produced no diff, the branch is reset to the base. With --push or --create-prs, the reset branch is pushed without opening or updating an MR.

Use cases

• Keeping generated files (API clients, protobuf bindings, lock files) in sync with their sources
• Applying organization-wide refactors or policy changes across many repositories
• Automating any periodic code transformation that should go through a review process

Configuration

repoactive is configured via .repoactive.toml in the repository root (or passed via --config). See Config file locations for how the defaults are discovered and how to split the config across several files.

Every key in [job-defaults] supplies the default for the matching per-job key; any job may override it by setting the same key in its [[job]] block.

[job-defaults]
# Prefix prepended to job.name to form the branch name
branch_prefix = "repoactive/"
# Prefix prepended to every MR/PR title (set to "" to disable)
mr_title_prefix = "[repoactive] "
# Prefix prepended to every commit title (set to "" to disable)
commit_title_prefix = "[repoactive] "
# Labels applied to every MR/PR unless overridden per job
labels = ["repoactive"]
# Optional: default target branch for jobs that do not set their own
# (default: repo default branch)
base_branch = "main"
# Optional: default cooldown_period applied to jobs that do not set their own
# (default: none). See "Throttling jobs with cooldown_period" below.
cooldown_period = "7d"
# Optional: default timeout applied to jobs that do not set their own
# (default: "2m"). See "Limiting job runtime with timeout" below.
timeout = "1h"

[[job]]
# Unique identifier - branch name is always <branch_prefix><name>
name = "regenerate-api-client"
# Script run in the repo working directory; non-zero exit = failure
command = "python scripts/regen_api.py"
# MR/PR title
title = "api: regenerate API client"
# Optional: MR description
description = "Automated regeneration of the API client from the OpenAPI spec."
# Optional: extra labels (merged with job-defaults.labels)
labels = ["automated", "api"]
# Optional: target branch (default: repo default branch)
base_branch = "main"
# Optional: open the MR/PR as a draft (default: false)
draft = false
# Optional: create an MR/PR for this job (default: true). Set to false to
# push the branch without opening an MR/PR.
create_mr = true
# Optional: append the job's command and its output to the commit message
# (default: true). Set to false to keep the commit message clean.
output_in_commit = true
# Optional: skip this job on "run all" invocations (default: false). Sugar for
# tags = ["disabled"]; mutually exclusive with tags. See "Disabling jobs" below.
disabled = false
# Optional: tags for job selection (default: none -> the job carries the
# implicit "enabled" tag and runs in the bare `repoactive run`). Setting any tag
# removes "enabled", so the job runs only via `repoactive run --tag <tag>`. See
# "Selecting jobs with tags" below.
# tags = ["nightly"]
# Optional: override branch_prefix/mr_title_prefix/commit_title_prefix from
# job-defaults for this job only.
mr_title_prefix = "[api] "
# Optional: minimum time between landed changes for this job. If a commit
# from this job landed on the base branch within this window, the job is
# skipped. Format: <number><unit>, unit one of s, m, h, d, w (e.g. "7d").
cooldown_period = "7d"
# Optional: maximum runtime for this job's command. When it expires the
# command's process group is killed and the job fails. Same format as
# cooldown_period.
timeout = "30m"

[[job]]
name = "sync-license-headers"
command = "./scripts/add_license_headers.sh"
title = "sync license headers"

[[job]]
name = "integration-tests-update"
command = "./scripts/update_integration_tests.py"
title = "tests: update integration tests"
# Optional: run this job on top of the merged output of the listed jobs
depends_on = ["regenerate-api-client", "sync-license-headers"]

For public GitHub.com or GitLab.com repositories no platform declaration is needed — repoactive detects the remote URL automatically. To use a self-hosted instance, add a [[platform]] section:

[[platform]]
# Base URL of the platform instance
url = "https://gitlab.example.com"
# Name of the env var holding the API token
token_env = "GITLAB_TOKEN"
# type must be either "github" or "gitlab"
type = "gitlab"

The branch for each job is always branch_prefix + job.name, where branch_prefix is the job's own value if set, otherwise job-defaults.branch_prefix. Secrets are kept out of the config file by referencing environment variable names rather than inline values.

When depends_on is set, repoactive starts the job's script from a working tree that has all listed dependency branches merged together, rather than from the plain base branch. The resulting MR branch will therefore include both the dependency jobs and the new job on top. Links to the parent MRs are automatically added to the MR description.

Config file locations

When no --config/-c option is given, repoactive looks for configuration inside the --repo directory (the current directory by default):

• the .repoactive.d/ directory, if present, contributes every *.toml file it contains, merged in sorted filename order;
• the .repoactive.toml file, if present, is merged last so it overrides the directory.

If neither exists, repoactive exits with an error. Splitting configuration across .repoactive.d/*.toml is handy for dropping in per-job files without touching a single large config.

--config/-c overrides this discovery. It may point at a file or at a directory of *.toml files, and may be repeated to merge several sources; later sources win. Explicit paths are resolved relative to the current directory, not --repo.

Selecting jobs with tags

Which jobs a repoactive run touches is decided by tags. Every job has a set of tags, with a smart default:

• a plain job (no tags, not disabled) carries the implicit enabled tag;
• disabled = true is sugar for tags = ["disabled"];
• setting tags = [...] uses exactly those tags — and, importantly, drops the implicit enabled tag unless you list it yourself.

repoactive run with no arguments is shorthand for repoactive run --tag enabled: it runs every job carrying enabled. Pass --tag/-t (repeatable) to select a different set; a job runs if it carries any of the requested tags. Naming jobs and passing tags can be combined — the selection is the union of the two.

# Run all jobs tagged "weekly" (regardless of whether they also have "enabled")
repoactive run --tag weekly

# Union: the "nightly" jobs plus one named job
repoactive run --tag nightly regenerate-api-client

Because assigning a tag removes the implicit enabled tag, tags are load-bearing, not free-form labels: tagging a job takes it out of the bare repoactive run. If you want a job to stay in the default run and belong to a group, list both: tags = ["enabled", "weekly"]. (For MR/PR labels, use labels — a separate concept.)

Tag selection is explicit selection, so — like naming a job — it ignores the enabled/disabled defaults and force-includes dependencies. The bare repoactive run is implicit selection: a job whose dependency is not itself selected is dropped (==> [name] skipped (dependency not in default run)).

Keeping unmerged branches current

The bare repoactive run additionally refreshes any job that currently has an unmerged branch, regardless of its tags. A branch is "unmerged" when the job's last commit has not yet landed in trunk(); repoactive finds these via the Repoactive-Job trailer on unmerged commits and pulls those jobs (and their dependencies) into the run, so each branch is rebased on the latest trunk() and the command is re-run against it. (With --create-prs such a branch has an open MR; with a plain run or --push it is just a branch.)

This means a job's schedule tag governs when a new branch is created, while the default run keeps an existing branch rebased and current — you don't have to wait for the next weekly run to resolve a conflict with trunk(). Once the branch lands, its commit becomes an ancestor of trunk(), so the job drops back to its normal tag-driven cadence. (A disabled job's unmerged branch is refreshed too: it was most likely created by an explicit run, and letting it drift out of date helps no one.)

Disabling jobs

Set disabled = true on a [[job]] to keep it in the config but leave it out of normal runs; it is exactly sugar for tags = ["disabled"] (so the two are mutually exclusive). The flag only affects the bare repoactive run:

• On repoactive run, disabled jobs are skipped, along with any job that depends_on one (its dependency would not be produced).
• Naming a job explicitly overrides it: repoactive run my-job runs my-job even when it is disabled. So does repoactive run --tag disabled, which runs everything currently turned off.

Running a job on a schedule

repoactive is not a daemon and has no built-in scheduler — the cadence of a job is whatever cadence you invoke it with. To run a job on a fixed schedule, tag it and have an OS cron job select that tag. The tag keeps the job out of the bare repoactive run, and the crontab decides the membership in one place — add or remove weekly jobs by editing the config, not the crontab:

[[job]]
name = "uv-lock-upgrade"
command = "uv lock --upgrade"
title = "build: upgrade all dependencies"
# Not in the bare `repoactive run`; runs only via `--tag weekly`.
tags = ["weekly"]

# Run every job tagged "weekly" each Sunday at 03:00
0 3 * * 0  repoactive run --tag weekly --create-prs

Because the cron is the sole trigger, the command runs exactly when cron fires — once, whether or not it produces a diff. This is more reliable than inferring a schedule from repoactive's own history: real cron is stateful and excludes the other days, whereas repoactive only ever sees what has landed (see cooldown_period below).

Throttling jobs with cooldown_period

Every commit repoactive creates carries a Repoactive-Job: <name> trailer identifying the job that produced it. When a job sets cooldown_period, repoactive looks at the base branch for a commit with that job's trailer and a committer date inside the window before running. If one is found the job is on cooldown and is skipped for this run (dependents proceed as if it produced no changes); otherwise the job runs normally. This keeps recurring jobs - for example a dependency upgrade - from landing more often than the configured interval.

The signal is the trailer on the base branch, so the cooldown only starts once a change has landed. An open, unmerged MR does not trigger it (the existing MR keeps being updated as usual). Because the check relies on the commit trailer reaching the base branch, MRs for throttled jobs must be merged with a merge commit or rebase - a squash merge discards the commit message and with it the trailer, so the cooldown would never trigger.

Limiting job runtime with timeout

A job's command can hang or run away. Setting timeout caps how long the command may run; when the limit is reached repoactive kills the command's whole process group - the shell and any child processes it spawned - and the job fails (its workspace is abandoned, no branch or MR is created). The command runs in its own session/process group to make this possible. The value uses the same <number><unit> format as cooldown_period (e.g. "30m", "2h"). timeout may be set per job or in job-defaults; a per-job value overrides the default. The built-in default is "2m"; set timeout to a larger value in job-defaults for longer-running commands.

Usage

# Print the installed version and exit
repoactive --version

repoactive run [OPTIONS] [JOBS]...

Run all configured jobs (or a named subset - dependencies are auto-included):

# Apply all jobs locally (no push, no MR creation)
repoactive run

# Apply specific jobs locally
repoactive run regenerate-api-client sync-license-headers

# Run every job carrying a given tag (see "Selecting jobs with tags")
repoactive run --tag weekly

# Push branches to the remote without creating MRs
repoactive run --push

# Push branches and create or update merge requests
repoactive run --create-prs

# Enable debug logging
repoactive run --debug

Option	Short	Description
--config PATH	-c	Config file or directory of *.toml files; repeat to merge. Default: .repoactive.d/ and .repoactive.toml under --repo
--repo PATH	-r	jj repository path (default: .)
--push		Push branches to the remote repository
--create-prs		Push branches and create or update pull requests
--tag TAG	-t	Run jobs carrying any of these tags (repeatable). With no tags/jobs the default run targets the enabled tag
--debug	-d	Enable debug logging

Inspecting repoactive commits

repoactive recent-commits [OPTIONS] [JOBS]...

List commits produced by repoactive, filtered by a time window and optionally by job name or merge status:

# Show all repoactive commits from the last 2 weeks (default window)
repoactive recent-commits --repo /path/to/repo

# Narrow to a specific window
repoactive recent-commits --within 30d --repo /path/to/repo

# Filter by one or more job names
repoactive recent-commits --within 7d uv-lock-upgrade prek-autoupdate

# Only commits that have landed in trunk
repoactive recent-commits --merged

# Only commits still on open branches
repoactive recent-commits --unmerged

Option	Short	Description
--within		How far back to look (default: 2w; e.g. 7d, 24h)
--repo PATH	-r	jj repository path (default: .)
--merged		Only commits that are ancestors of trunk
--unmerged		Only commits not yet in trunk

jj revset aliases

To query repoactive commits directly in jj, add these aliases to your repository config (jj config set --repo) or your global config (jj config set --user):

[revset-aliases]
'repoactive()' = 'description(regex:"(?m)^Repoactive-Job: ")'
'repoactive_merged()' = 'repoactive() & ::trunk()'
'repoactive_unmerged()' = 'repoactive() & ~(::trunk())'

Then use them directly in jj:

jj log -r 'repoactive()'
jj log -r 'repoactive_unmerged()'
jj log -r 'repoactive() & committer_date(after:"2025-01-01")'
jj log -r 'repoactive() & description(regex:"(?m)^Repoactive-Job: uv-lock-upgrade$")'

Validating configuration

repoactive validate-config [OPTIONS]

Check that a config file is syntactically and semantically valid without running any jobs:

# Validate the discovered defaults (.repoactive.d/ and .repoactive.toml)
repoactive validate-config

# Validate a specific config file or directory
repoactive validate-config --config myconfig.toml

# Validate a merged config (same merging rules as `run`)
repoactive validate-config --config base.toml --config override.toml

On success the command prints Config OK: N job(s) defined. and exits with code 0. On failure it prints the validation error to stderr and exits with code 1.

Validation checks include unknown keys, missing required fields, invalid depends_on references, and circular job dependencies.

Option	Short	Description
--config PATH	-c	Config file or directory of *.toml files; repeat to merge. Default: .repoactive.d/ and .repoactive.toml under --repo
--repo PATH	-r	jj repository path (default: .)

Requirements

• Python 3.11 or later
• jj (Jujutsu) - repoactive uses jj to manage branches and commits in the target repository
• A GitLab or GitHub API token exposed via the environment variable named in platform.token_env