My git config grew over years — an alias here, a setting there. After a recent round of improvements I decided to write up the current state: the whole config, then the story behind each section.
The config#
[user]
email = kostiantyn@lysenko.dev
name = Kostiantyn Lysenko
signingkey = 9130673A # GPG key for signed commits
[core]
autocrlf = false # leave line endings alone
ignorecase = false # respect exact filename casing
excludesfile = ~/.gitignore # global gitignore for OS artifacts
fsmonitor = true # filesystem watcher — faster git status
untrackedCache = true # cache untracked files between runs
[diff]
algorithm = histogram # cleaner diffs than default Myers
colorMoved = plain # distinct color for moved lines
mnemonicPrefix = true # w/ i/ c/ instead of a/ b/
renames = true # detect file renames
[interactive]
diffFilter = delta --color-only
[delta]
features = side-by-side line-numbers decorations hyperlinks navigate
whitespace-error-style = 22 reverse
[delta "decorations"]
commit-decoration-style = bold yellow box ul
file-style = bold yellow ul
file-decoration-style = none
[merge]
conflictstyle = zdiff3 # three-way conflicts: ours, base, theirs
[push]
default = simple # push current branch to same-named upstream
autoSetupRemote = true # no more -u origin branch-name
followTags = true # push tags with their commits
[fetch]
prune = true # remove stale remote-tracking branches
pruneTags = true # remove stale remote tags
all = true # fetch from all remotes
[pull]
rebase = false # merge by default, rebase intentionally
[commit]
verbose = true # show diff in commit message editor
[rebase]
autoSquash = true # auto-reorder fixup!/squash! commits
autoStash = true # stash before rebase, pop after
updateRefs = true # move all branches in a stack
[rerere]
enabled = true # remember conflict resolutions
autoUpdate = true # stage auto-resolved files
[column]
ui = auto # columnar output when terminal is wide
[branch]
sort = -committerdate # most recent branches first
[tag]
sort = version:refname # v1.2 before v1.10
[init]
defaultBranch = main # match GitHub default
[help]
autocorrect = prompt # suggest + confirm mistyped commands
[alias]
co = checkout
ci = commit
st = status
br = branch
s = status -s
hist = log --pretty=format:'%h %ad | %s%d [%an]' --graph --date=short
grog = log --graph --abbrev-commit --decorate --all --format=format:'%C(bold blue)%h%C(reset) - %C(bold cyan)%aD%C(dim white) - %an%C(reset) %C(bold green)(%ar)%C(reset)%C(bold yellow)%d%C(reset)%n %C(white)%s%C(reset)'
lg = !serie # TUI log viewer
pull-request = !gh pr create
dd = "!git diff \"$@\" -- | delta #"
type = cat-file -t # what is this object?
dump = cat-file -p # show object contents
[filter "lfs"]
clean = git-lfs clean -- %f
smudge = git-lfs smudge -- %f
required = true
process = git-lfs filter-process
[hub]
protocol = ssh
[github]
user = jakshi
[gitget]
root = ~/git-repos
host = github.com
skip-host = true
[color]
ui = autoThe story#
Diffs that make sense#
The default algorithm, Myers, falls apart when code blocks shift around. It marks whole sections as deleted and re-added, even when you only moved a function. Histogram produces diffs that match what actually happened.
colorMoved goes further. Moved lines get a distinct color. During review you skip them and focus on real edits.
mnemonicPrefix replaces the cryptic a/ and b/ in diff headers with w/ (worktree), i/ (index), c/ (commit). You see which side is which at a glance.
I pipe everything through Delta for side-by-side view, syntax highlighting, and clickable hyperlinks. More on that setup in a separate post.
Pushing and fetching#
For years I typed git push -u origin feature-x on every new branch. autoSetupRemote cuts that to git push. One flag, one less daily annoyance.
followTags pushes annotated tags alongside their commits. I used to forget git push --tags after releases. Now tags travel with the code.
On the fetch side, prune removes stale remote-tracking branches on every fetch. Delete a branch on GitHub and the local reference disappears. all fetches from every remote — useful when you work with forks and keep both origin and upstream.
Rebasing without friction#
Three settings turned rebase from a ceremony into a one-liner.
autoStash stashes dirty work before a rebase and pops it after. The “cannot rebase: you have unstaged changes” error is gone.
autoSquash reorders fixup! and squash! commits during interactive rebase. Write a fix, run git commit --fixup <sha>, rebase, and the fix folds into the right commit.
updateRefs I wish I had found sooner. Rebase a stack of branches and Git moves all of them — not just the current one.
Conflict resolution#
zdiff3 changed how I read merge conflicts. Standard markers show two versions — yours and theirs. zdiff3 adds the original before either side touched it. With all three visible, each side’s intent becomes obvious.
rerere — REuse REcorded REsolution — records how you resolve a conflict. Same conflict appears again during a rebase retry or cherry-pick? Git applies your fix and stages the file. Set it once, forget it.
Sorting and display#
Alphabetical branch sorting buries the branch you touched ten minutes ago. sort = -committerdate puts recent work on top. Tags sorted by version:refname place v1.2 before v1.10 — the obvious order Git does not use by default.
column.ui = auto lays out git branch and git tag in columns when the terminal is wide enough.
Performance#
fsmonitor and untrackedCache work together. Instead of scanning every file on git status, Git watches the filesystem and caches untracked file info. On large repos, status drops from hundreds of milliseconds to near-instant. A background daemon makes this possible — skip these two if that bothers you.
Aliases#
The short ones — co, ci, st, br, s — are muscle memory. I type git s dozens of times a day.
lg calls serie, a TUI for Git logs. grog and hist are two flavors of decorated graph logs for when I want the picture in the terminal itself.
dd pipes diffs through Delta. The trailing # prevents Git from appending extra arguments that Delta would misinterpret.
type and dump inspect Git objects directly. Rarely needed, handy when debugging.
Tools#
gitget organizes cloned repos under ~/git-repos in a clean directory tree. hub and gh handle GitHub operations. Git LFS manages large binaries.
Sources#
Inspired by How Git Core Devs Configure Git — what the people who build Git actually use.