posh-git

posh-git is a PowerShell module that integrates Git and PowerShell by providing Git status summary information that can be displayed in the PowerShell prompt, e.g.:

C:\Users\Keith\GitHub\posh-git [master ≡ +0 ~1 -0 !]>

posh-git also provides tab completion support for common git commands, branch names, paths and more. For example, with posh-git, PowerShell can tab complete git commands like checkout by typing git ch and pressing the tab key. That will tab complete to git checkout and if you keep pressing tab, it will cycle through other command matches such as cherry and cherry-pick. You can also tab complete remote names and branch names e.g.: git pull or<tab> ma<tab> tab completes to git pull origin master.

Notes

Posh-git adds variables to your session to let you customize it, including $GitPromptSettings, $GitTabSettings, and $TortoiseGitSettings. For an example of how to configure your PowerShell profile script to import the posh-git module and create a custom prompt function that displays git status info, see the Customizing Your PowerShell Prompt section below.

Note on performance: Displaying file status in the git prompt for a very large repo can be prohibitively slow. Rather than turn off file status entirely ($GitPromptSettings.EnableFileStatus = $false), you can disable it on a repo-by-repo basis by adding individual repository paths to $GitPromptSettings.RepositoriesInWhichToDisableFileStatus.

Installation

Prerequisites

Before installing posh-git make sure the following prerequisites have been met.

1. PowerShell 2.0 or higher. Check your PowerShell version by executing $PSVersionTable.PSVersion.

2. Script execution policy must be set to either RemoteSigned or Unrestricted. Check the script execution policy setting by executing Get-ExecutionPolicy. If the policy is not set to one of the two required values, run PowerShell as Administrator and execute Set-ExecutionPolicy RemoteSigned -Scope CurrentUser -Confirm.

3. Git must be installed and available via the PATH environment variable. Check that git is accessible from PowerShell by executing git --version from PowerShell. If git is not recognized as the name of a command verify that you have Git installed. If not, install Git from https://git-scm.com. If you have Git installed, make sure the path to git.exe is in your PATH environment variable.

Installing posh-git via PowerShellGet

If you are on PowerShell version 5 or higher, execute the command below to install from the PowerShell Gallery:

PowerShellGet\Install-Module posh-git -Scope CurrentUser

You may be asked if you trust packages coming from the PowerShell Gallery. Answer yes to allow installation of this module to proceed.

If you are on PowerShell version 3 or 4, you will need to install the Package Management Preview for PowerShell 3 & 4 in order to run the command above.

Note: If you get an error message from Install-Module about NuGet being required to interact with NuGet-based repositories, execute the following commands to bootstrap the NuGet provider:

Install-PackageProvider NuGet -Force
Import-PackageProvider NuGet -Force

Then retry the Install-Module command above.

After you have successfully installed the posh-git module from the PowerShell Gallery, you will be able to update to a newer version by executing the command:

Update-Module posh-git

Installing posh-git via Chocolatey

If you have PowerShell version 2 or are having issues using Install-Module with PowerShell version 3 or 4, you can use Chocolatey to install posh-git. If you don't have Chocolatey, you can install it from the Chocolately Install page. With Chocolatey installed, execute the following command to install posh-git:

choco install poshgit

Using posh-git

After you have installed posh-git, you need to configure your PowerShell session to use the posh-git module.

Step 1: Import posh-git

The first step is to import the module into your PowerShell session which will enable git tab completion. You can do this with the command Import-Module posh-git.

Step 2: Import posh-git from Your PowerShell Profile

You do not want to have to manually execute the Import-Module command every time you open a new PowerShell prompt. Let's have PowerShell import this module for you in each new PowerShell session. We can do this by either executing the command Add-PoshGitToProfile or by editing your PowerShell profile script and adding the command Import-Module posh-git.

If you want posh-git to be available in all your PowerShell hosts (console, ISE, etc) then execute Add-PoshGitToProfile -AllHosts. This will add a line containing Import-Module posh-git to the file $profile.CurrentUserAllHosts. If you want posh-git to be available in just the current host, then execute Add-PoshGitToProfile. This will add the same command but to the file $profile.CurrentUserCurrentHost.

If you'd prefer, you can manually edit the desired PowerShell profile script. Open (or create) your profile script with the command notepad $profile.CurrentUserAllHosts. In the profile script, add the following line:

Import-Module posh-git

Save the profile script, then close PowerShell and open a new PowerShell session. Type git fe and then press tab. If posh-git has been imported, that command should tab complete to git fetch.

Step 3 (optional): Customize Your PowerShell Prompt

By default, posh-git will update your PowerShell prompt function to display Git status summary information when the current dir is inside a Git repository. posh-git will not update your PowerShell prompt function if you have your own, customized prompt function that has been defined before importing posh-git.

The posh-git prompt is a single line prompt that looks like this:

C:\Users\Keith\GitHub\posh-git [master ≡ +0 ~1 -0 !]>

You can customize the posh-git prompt or define your own custom prompt function. The most common customization for the posh-git provided prompt is to make it span two lines which can be done with the following command:

$GitPromptSettings.DefaultPromptSuffix = '`n$(''>'' * ($nestedPromptLevel + 1)) '

This will change the prompt to:

C:\Users\Keith\GitHub\posh-git [master ≡ +0 ~1 -0 !]
>

You can also customize the default prompt prefix text e.g.:

$GitPromptSettings.DefaultPromptPrefix = '[$(hostname)] '

This will change the prompt to:

[KEITH1] C:\Users\Keith\GitHub\posh-git [master ≡ +0 ~1 -0 !]>

And if you would prefer to have any path under your home directory abbreviated with ~, you can change this setting:

$GitPromptSettings.DefaultPromptAbbreviateHomeDirectory = $true

This will change the prompt to the one shown below:

~\GitHub\posh-git [master ≡ +0 ~1 -0 !]>

You can also create your own prompt function to show whatever information you want. See the Customizing Your PowerShell Prompt wiki page for details.

Git Status Summary Information

The Git status summary information provides a wealth of "Git status" information at a glance, all the time in your prompt.

By default, the status summary has the following format:

[{HEAD-name} S +A ~B -C !D | +E ~F -G !H W]

• [ (BeforeText)
• {HEAD-name} is the current branch, or the SHA of a detached HEAD
• Cyan means the branch matches its remote
• Green means the branch is ahead of its remote (green light to push)
• Red means the branch is behind its remote
• Yellow means the branch is both ahead of and behind its remote
• S represents the branch status in relation to remote (tracked origin) branch. Note: This information reflects the state of the remote tracked branch after the last git fetch/pull of the remote.
  • ≡ = The local branch in at the same commit level as the remote branch (BranchIdenticalStatus)
  • ↑<num> = The local branch is ahead of the remote branch by the specified number of commits; a 'git push' is required to update the remote branch (BranchAheadStatus)
  • ↓<num> = The local branch is behind the remote branch by the specified number of commits; a 'git pull' is required to update the local branch (BranchBehindStatus)
  • <a>↕<b> = The local branch is both ahead of the remote branch by the specified number of commits (a) and behind by the specified number of commits (b); a rebase of the local branch is required before pushing local changes to the remote branch (BranchBehindAndAheadStatus). NOTE: this status is only available if $GitPromptSettings.BranchBehindAndAheadDisplay is set to 'Compact'.
  • × = The local branch is tracking a branch that is gone from the remote (`BranchGoneStatus')
• ABCD represent the index; | (DelimText); EFGH represent the working directory
• + = Added files
• ~ = Modified files
• - = Removed files
• ! = Conflicted files
• As in git status, index status is dark green and working directory status is dark red
• W represents the status of the working folder
• ! = There are untracked changes in the working tree (LocalStagedStatus)
• ~ = There are staged changes in the working tree waiting to be committed (LocalWorkingStatus)
• None = There are no uncommitted or unstaged changes to the working tree (LocalDefault)
• ] (AfterText)

The symbols and surrounding text can be customized by the corresponding properties on $GitPromptSettings.

For example, a status of [master ≡ +0 ~2 -1 | +1 ~1 -0] corresponds to the following git status:

# On branch master
#
# Changes to be committed:
#   (use "git reset HEAD <file>..." to unstage)
#
#        modified:   this-changed.txt
#        modified:   this-too.txt
#        deleted:    gone.ps1
#
# Changed but not updated:
#   (use "git add <file>..." to update what will be committed)
#   (use "git checkout -- <file>..." to discard changes in working directory)
#
#        modified:   not-staged.ps1
#
# Untracked files:
#   (use "git add <file>..." to include in what will be committed)
#
#        new.file

Based on work by:

• Keith Dahlby, http://solutionizing.net/
• Mark Embling, http://www.markembling.info/
• Jeremy Skinner, http://www.jeremyskinner.co.uk/