My Git helper shortcuts

Published

I’m a hardcore GitHub user, as most of my projects are hosted there. I usually use gh repo view --web to open the current codebase’s GitHub repository from a terminal. I don’t use desktop apps such as SourceTree or GitHub Desktop.

Recently, however, I started using GitLab for some experimental projects. At work, we use Azure DevOps for our code repositories. Azure DevOps, for example, already has a similar command for opening a remote repository, but you need to specify its repository name, so it isn’t particularly convenient.

What if I told you that we don’t even need the az or gh commands? Git can already give us the remote repository URL using:

Terminal window
git remote get-url origin

It works regardless of which remote repository provider we’re using! So, I created a PowerShell function that wraps the command neatly. Oh, and I also included a function for viewing commit details in the remote repository. This lets us see more context about the commit, such as the associated PR, user story, etc.

PowerShell

On Windows, you can open the PowerShell profile.

Terminal window
code $PROFILE

Then, paste the following function.

Microsoft.PowerShell_profile.ps1
# or stands for openrepo
function or {
    $url = git config --get remote.origin.url


    # Convert SSH URL to HTTPS if needed
    if ($url -match "^git@(.+):(.+)$") {
        $url = "https://$($matches[1])/$($matches[2] -replace '\.git$','')"
    } elseif ($url -match "^https://") {
        $url = $url -replace '\.git$',''
    }


    Write-Host "Opening $url in browser..."
    Start-Process $url
}


# oc stands for opencommit
function oc {
    param (
        [string]$commitHash
    )


    if (-not $commitHash) {
        throw "Commit hash is required. Usage: oc <commit-hash>"
    }


    $url = git config --get remote.origin.url


    # Convert SSH URL to HTTPS if needed
    if ($url -match "^git@(.+):(.+)$") {
        $url = "https://$($matches[1])/$($matches[2] -replace '\.git$','')"
    } elseif ($url -match "^https://") {
        $url = $url -replace '\.git$',''
    }


    $commitUrl = "$url/commit/$commitHash"
    Write-Host "Opening $commitUrl in browser..."
    Start-Process $commitUrl
}

Open a new PowerShell session or run the command below to load the functions:

Terminal window
. $PROFILE

ZSH

On macos, you can add the following code to your ~/.zshrc file.

Terminal window
code ~/.zshrc

Then, paste this.

.zshrc
# git helpers
_repo_web_url() {
  local remote_name remote_url host repo_path


  # Prefer origin; otherwise fall back to the first configured remote.
  remote_name="${1:-origin}"
  remote_url="$(git config --get "remote.${remote_name}.url")"
  if [[ -z "$remote_url" ]]; then
    remote_name="$(git remote | head -n 1)"
    remote_url="$(git config --get "remote.${remote_name}.url")"
  fi


  if [[ -z "$remote_url" ]]; then
    echo "Not a git repo or no remotes configured."
    return 1
  fi


  # Azure DevOps SSH format: git@ssh.dev.azure.com:v3/org/project/repo
  if [[ "$remote_url" =~ '^git@ssh\.dev\.azure\.com:v3/(.+)/(.+)/(.+)$' ]]; then
    echo "https://dev.azure.com/${match[1]}/${match[2]}/_git/${match[3]}"
    return 0
  fi


  # SCP-like SSH format: git@host:owner/repo(.git)
  if [[ "$remote_url" =~ '^git@([^:]+):(.+)$' ]]; then
    host="${match[1]}"
    repo_path="${match[2]}"
    repo_path="${repo_path%.git}"
    echo "https://${host}/${repo_path}"
    return 0
  fi


  # SSH URL format: ssh://git@host/owner/repo(.git)
  if [[ "$remote_url" =~ '^ssh://([^@]+@)?([^/]+)/(.+)$' ]]; then
    host="${match[2]}"
    repo_path="${match[3]}"
    repo_path="${repo_path%.git}"
    echo "https://${host}/${repo_path}"
    return 0
  fi


  # HTTPS URL (strip optional auth user and trailing .git)
  if [[ "$remote_url" =~ '^https://([^/]+)/(.+)$' ]]; then
    host="${match[1]}"
    repo_path="${match[2]}"
    host="${host#*@}"
    repo_path="${repo_path%.git}"
    echo "https://${host}/${repo_path}"
    return 0
  fi


  echo "Unsupported remote URL format: ${remote_url}"
  return 1
}


# or = openrepo
or() {
  local url
  url="$(_repo_web_url)" || return 1
  echo "Opening ${url} in browser..."
  open "$url"
}


# oc = open commit
oc() {
  local commit_hash base_url commit_url
  commit_hash="$1"


  if [[ -z "$commit_hash" ]]; then
    echo "Commit hash is required. Usage: oc <commit-hash>"
    return 1
  fi


  base_url="$(_repo_web_url)" || return 1


  # Provider-specific commit routes.
  if [[ "$base_url" == *"gitlab"* ]]; then
    commit_url="${base_url}/-/commit/${commit_hash}"
  elif [[ "$base_url" == *"bitbucket"* ]]; then
    commit_url="${base_url}/commits/${commit_hash}"
  else
    commit_url="${base_url}/commit/${commit_hash}"
  fi


  echo "Opening ${commit_url} in browser..."
  open "$commit_url"
}

Demo

I’ve tested the functions on Windows and macos with multiple Git providers, including GitHub, GitLab, and Azure DevOps. The functions should work with any Git provider.

The demos below were recorded on macos.

Using oc

I can also use VS Code’s blame feature to open the commit, but this feature is not supported by all Git providers.

Using or