Imported from br3ndonland/gitless-vscode (AGENTS.md). Install upstream with npx skills add br3ndonland/gitless-vscode. Copyright stays with the author.

AGENTS.md

Instructions for AI coding agents working on this project.

Project Overview

GitLess is a minimal VSCode extension for Git integration. It provides a dedicated Source Control panel section with views (Commits, Tags, Branches, Remotes, Stashes, Worktrees), an Inspect panel (File History, Line History, Search and Compare), and command palette commands for remote URLs, commit SHAs, remote links, repository selection, commit search, and ref comparison.

Key Conventions

• Use pnpm for package management (not npm or yarn).
• Use Conventional Commits and Angular commit message conventions for all commit messages (e.g. feat:, fix:, docs:).
• Use Prettier for formatting with "semi": false (no semicolons).
• Use double quotes for strings.
• Use ASCII characters in written output, code comments, commit messages, and documentation, except for box-drawing characters (├, └, │, ─) in filesystem tree diagrams.
• Do not create Git commits on main; always work on a feature branch.
• Do not Git push to main; always push to a feature branch.

Architecture

• Entry point: src/extension.ts - activate() creates a Container instance.
• DI container: src/container.ts - Wires up the GitService, revision content provider, file decoration provider, commands, views, and configuration.
• Git layer: src/git/ - models.ts (interfaces), shell.ts (subprocess execution), parsers.ts (output parsing), remoteUrls.ts (URL generation), gitService.ts (repository discovery, active repository selection, high-level Git API).
• Commands: src/commands/registerCommands.ts - All command handlers registered in one function. Command IDs defined in src/constants.ts.
• Views: src/views/ - groupedView.ts owns a single TreeView in the SCM panel and switches among sub-view TreeDataProviders. fileHistoryView.ts, lineHistoryView.ts, and searchAndCompareView.ts back the GitLess Inspect panel. Tree node classes are in src/views/nodes.ts, and gitFileDecorationProvider.ts adds Git status badges to file nodes.
• Configuration: src/config.ts - Reads gitless.* settings. src/constants.ts has all command/view/context IDs.

Adding Features

When adding a new command:

1. Add to Commands in src/constants.ts
2. Add handler in src/commands/registerCommands.ts
3. Add to contributes.commands in package.json
4. Add menu entries and command palette exclusions in package.json if needed

When adding a new grouped Source Control sub-view:

1. Add the view type to GroupedViewType in src/views/groupedView.ts
2. Create the view class in src/views/
3. Add it to the subViews map and command registrations in groupedView.ts
4. Add command IDs to Commands in src/constants.ts
5. Add command entries and view/title toggle buttons in package.json

When adding a new Inspect panel view:

1. Add to ViewIds in src/constants.ts
2. Create view class in src/views/
3. Export from src/views/index.ts
4. Instantiate in src/container.ts
5. Declare in package.json under contributes.views

Build and Test

pnpm install           # Install dependencies
pnpm run build         # Production build (esbuild -> dist/extension.js)
pnpm run build:dev     # Dev build with sourcemaps
pnpm run lint          # Prettier check
pnpm run format        # Prettier write

At this time, agents should not automatically run pnpm run test (unit tests with Mocha in VS Code test host) or pnpm run test:e2e (Playwright). The VS Code test host and Playwright extension tests may not be able to run properly in agent sandboxes. Run them only when explicitly requested or when an unsandboxed local environment is available.

Important Files

• package.json - Extension manifest. All commands, views, menus, and configuration are declared here.
• src/constants.ts - Single source of truth for command IDs, view IDs, and context value strings.
• src/git/gitService.ts - Repository discovery, active repository selection, and high-level Git operations.
• src/git/parsers.ts - Git output parsing. Changes here should be accompanied by unit tests in src/__tests__/parsers.test.ts.
• src/git/remoteUrls.ts - Remote URL generation for GitHub, GitLab, Forgejo/Codeberg, Azure DevOps, and Bitbucket. Tests in src/__tests__/remoteUrls.test.ts.
• src/views/searchAndCompareView.ts - Search and Compare Inspect panel behavior. Tests are in src/__tests__/searchAndCompareView.test.ts.

Testing Guidelines

• Unit tests are in src/__tests__/ using Mocha tdd UI (suite/test, not describe/it).
• Prefer testing pure functions (parsers, URL generation) over VSCode API integration.
• Do not automatically run pnpm run test or pnpm run test:e2e in agent sandboxes.
• Run pnpm run lint and pnpm run build to verify before committing when those commands are relevant.