init

Create an integration branch tracking a remote branch, and switch to it. This is where a git-loom workflow starts.

Usage

git loom init [<name>]

Arguments

What It Does

Creates the branch at the tip of the upstream it finds, sets it to track that upstream, and checks it out. The upstream is, in order:

1. On GitHub, the default branch of a remote named upstream (the fork workflow)
2. The upstream of the branch you are on, e.g. origin/main when you are on main
3. In a linked worktree, the upstream of the main checkout’s branch
4. Each remote’s default branch, else its main, master or develop, asking you to choose when there are several

In a linked worktree, the default name comes from the worktree’s directory: repo-foo beside repo gives integration-foo, any other directory integration-<directory>.

GitHub forks

When origin is a GitHub fork and no remote points at the original repository, init asks gh for it and offers to add it as upstream, fetch it and track it. That’s the setup gh repo clone makes for a fork, so git loom push then pushes to your fork and opens pull requests on the original. Without gh, nothing changes. In agent mode, or when nobody can answer, init keeps tracking origin and prints the commands that switch to upstream.

Examples

git loom init
# ✓ Initialized integration branch `integration` tracking `origin/main`

git loom init my-integration
# ✓ Initialized integration branch `my-integration` tracking `origin/main`

On a GitHub fork:

git loom init
#   › Adds `upstream` (git@github.com:cli/cli.git) and fetches it
# ? `origin` is a fork of `cli/cli`: track it as remote `upstream`? Yes
# ✓ Added remote `upstream` for `cli/cli`
# ✓ Initialized integration branch `integration` tracking `upstream/trunk`

Prerequisites

• A remote with at least one branch
• No existing branch with the same name