diff --git a/README.md b/README.md
index 217e764de..7b747720a 100755
--- a/README.md
+++ b/README.md
@@ -34,6 +34,10 @@ CK consists of several sub-projects:
   * [CM4ABTF](https://github.com/mlcommons/cm4abtf) - a unified CM interface and automation recipes
     to run automotive benchmark across different models, data sets, software and hardware from different vendors.
 
+* [CMX (the next generation of CM)](cm/docs/cmx) - we are developing the next generation of CM 
+  to make it simpler and more flexible based on user feedback. Please follow 
+  this project [here](https://github.com/orgs/mlcommons/projects/46).
+
 * [Collective Knowledge Playground](https://access.cKnowledge.org) - a unified platform
   to list CM scripts similar to PYPI, aggregate AI/ML Systems benchmarking results in a reproducible format with CM workflows, 
   and organize [public optimization challenges and reproducibility initiatives](https://access.cknowledge.org/playground/?action=challenges) 
diff --git a/cm/CHANGES.md b/cm/CHANGES.md
index bb45d23e0..f39ad0dc2 100644
--- a/cm/CHANGES.md
+++ b/cm/CHANGES.md
@@ -1,3 +1,8 @@
+## V3.2.3
+   - added --new_branch to `cm pull repo` and `cm checkout repo`
+   - fixed a bug in `cm show repo` (removed dependency on cm4mlops 
+     and used subprocess.check_output)
+
 ## V3.2.2
    - fixed action `help` and flag `-h` to work with all automations:
      https://github.com/mlcommons/ck/issues/1325
diff --git a/cm/cmind/__init__.py b/cm/cmind/__init__.py
index 57fbbe910..d1f4e1a27 100644
--- a/cm/cmind/__init__.py
+++ b/cm/cmind/__init__.py
@@ -2,7 +2,7 @@
 #
 # Written by Grigori Fursin
 
-__version__ = "3.2.2"
+__version__ = "3.2.3"
 
 from cmind.core import access
 from cmind.core import x
diff --git a/cm/cmind/repo/automation/repo/module.py b/cm/cmind/repo/automation/repo/module.py
index 48c4bec5e..6446e4559 100644
--- a/cm/cmind/repo/automation/repo/module.py
+++ b/cm/cmind/repo/automation/repo/module.py
@@ -31,6 +31,7 @@ def pull(self, i):
           (url) (str): URL of a repository
           (pat) (str): Personal Access Token (if supported and url=='')
           (branch) (str): Git branch
+          (new_branch) (str): Create new Git branch
           (checkout) (str): Git checkout
           (checkout_only) (bool): only checkout existing repo
           (depth) (int): Git depth
@@ -123,6 +124,7 @@ def pull(self, i):
             # for backwards compatibility and reproducibility
 
             branch = i.get('branch', '')
+            new_branch = i.get('new_branch', '')
             checkout = i.get('checkout', '')
 
             r = net.request({'get': {'action': 'check-migration-repo-notes', 'repo': url, 'branch': branch, 'checkout': checkout}})
@@ -143,6 +145,7 @@ def pull(self, i):
             pull_repos = [{'alias':alias,
                            'url':url,
                            'branch': branch,
+                           'new_branch': new_branch,
                            'checkout': checkout,
                            'depth': i.get('depth', '')}]
 
@@ -152,26 +155,32 @@ def pull(self, i):
         repo_metas = {}
 
         warnings = []
+
+        if not self.cmind.logger == None:
+            self.cmind.log(f"x repo log: {pull_repos}", "debug")
         
         for repo in pull_repos:
              alias = repo['alias']
              url = repo.get('url', '')
              branch = repo.get('branch','')
+             new_branch = repo.get('new_branch','')
              checkout = repo.get('checkout','')
              depth = repo.get('depth','')
              path_to_repo = repo.get('path_to_repo', None)
 
              if console:
                  print (self.cmind.cfg['line'])
-                 print ('Alias:    {}'.format(alias))
+                 print ('Alias:      {}'.format(alias))
                  if url!='':
-                     print ('URL:      {}'.format(url))
+                     print ('URL:        {}'.format(url))
                  if branch!='':
-                     print ('Branch:   {}'.format(branch))
+                     print ('Branch:     {}'.format(branch))
+                 if new_branch!='':
+                     print ('New branch: {}'.format(new_branch))
                  if checkout!='':
-                     print ('Checkout: {}'.format(checkout))
+                     print ('Checkout:   {}'.format(checkout))
                  if depth!='' and depth!=None:
-                     print ('Depth:    {}'.format(str(depth)))
+                     print ('Depth:      {}'.format(str(depth)))
                  print ('')
 
              # Prepare path to repo
@@ -180,6 +189,7 @@ def pull(self, i):
              r = repos.pull(alias = alias,
                             url = url,
                             branch = branch,
+                            new_branch = new_branch,
                             checkout = checkout,
                             console = console,
                             desc=desc,
@@ -349,8 +359,10 @@ def search(self, i):
                            print ('  Alias:            {}'.format(alias))
 
                        print ('  UID:              {}'.format(uid))
+
                        if desc != '':
                            print ('Description:        {}'.format(desc))
+
                        print ('Git:                {}'.format(str(git)))
 
                        if git:
@@ -358,25 +370,33 @@ def search(self, i):
                            branch = ''
                            checkout = ''
 
-                           r = self.cmind.access({'action':'system', 'automation':'utils', 'path':path, 'cmd':'git config --get remote.origin.url'})
-                           if r['return'] == 0 and r['ret'] == 0:
-                               url = r['stdout']
-
-                           r = self.cmind.access({'action':'system', 'automation':'utils', 'path':path, 'cmd':'git rev-parse --abbrev-ref HEAD'})
-                           if r['return'] == 0 and r['ret'] == 0:
-                               branch = r['stdout']
-                               
-                           r = self.cmind.access({'action':'system', 'automation':'utils', 'path':path, 'cmd':'git rev-parse HEAD'})
-                           if r['return'] == 0 and r['ret'] == 0:
-                               checkout = r['stdout']
+                           import subprocess
+
+                           cur_dir = os.getcwd()
+
+                           os.chdir(path)
+
+                           try:
+                              url = subprocess.check_output('git config --get remote.origin.url', shell=True).decode("utf-8").strip()
+                           except subprocess.CalledProcessError as e:
+                              url = ''
+
+                           try:
+                              branch = subprocess.check_output('git rev-parse --abbrev-ref HEAD', shell=True).decode("utf-8").strip()
+                           except subprocess.CalledProcessError as e:
+                              branch = ''
                            
+                           try:
+                              checkout = subprocess.check_output('git rev-parse HEAD', shell=True).decode("utf-8").strip()
+                           except subprocess.CalledProcessError as e:
+                              checkout = ''
                            
                            if url!='':
-                               print ('  URL:              {}'.format(url))
+                               print (f'  URL:              {url}')
                            if branch!='':
-                               print ('  Branch:           {}'.format(branch))
+                               print (f'  Branch:           {branch}')
                            if checkout!='':
-                               print ('  Checkout:         {}'.format(checkout))
+                               print (f'  Checkout:         {checkout}')
 
                     else:
                        print ('{},{} = {}'.format(alias, uid, path))
diff --git a/cm/cmind/repos.py b/cm/cmind/repos.py
index d25e757b8..cfe6baf3e 100644
--- a/cm/cmind/repos.py
+++ b/cm/cmind/repos.py
@@ -296,7 +296,7 @@ def process(self, repo_path, mode='add'):
     ############################################################
     def pull(self, alias, url = '', branch = '', checkout = '', console = False, desc = '', prefix = '', depth = None, 
                     path_to_repo = None, checkout_only = False, skip_zip_parent_dir = False,
-                    extra_cmd_git = '', extra_cmd_pip = ''):
+                    extra_cmd_git = '', extra_cmd_pip = '', new_branch = ''):
         """
         Clone or pull CM repository
 
@@ -304,6 +304,7 @@ def pull(self, alias, url = '', branch = '', checkout = '', console = False, des
             alias (str): CM repository alias
             (url) (str): Git repository URL
             (branch) (str): Git repository branch
+            (new_branch) (str): Create new  branch
             (checkout) (str): Git repository checkout
             (checkout_only) (bool): only checkout existing repo
             (depth) (int): Git repository depth
@@ -462,6 +463,19 @@ def pull(self, alias, url = '', branch = '', checkout = '', console = False, des
             os.remove(pack_file)
 
         # Check if branch 
+        if new_branch != '':
+            cmd = 'git checkout -b ' + new_branch
+
+            if console:
+                print ('')
+                print (cmd)
+                print ('')
+
+            r = os.system(cmd)
+
+            if r>0:
+                return {'return':1, 'error':'creating new git branch failed'}
+
         if branch != '' or checkout != '':
             cmd = 'git checkout'