Git

Git shows the history of two repositories: your project’s code, and the Neova repository that versions your tasks, wiki pages, agent notes, goals and skills. It also lists the folders where agents work on goals. The page reads history. It does not check out branches or change your code repository.

Open it from Sidebar › Tools › Git.

Header and tabs

The subtitle sums up the open tab. Refresh reads the repository again. The page also refreshes each time you open it.

Tab	Shows
Project	Your code repository. The subtitle shows the number of branches, commits and unpushed commits.
Neova	The Neova repository in .neova/, on the branch neova. The subtitle shows the number of commits and whether the history is synced or on this machine only.
Worktrees	The folders where goals have open work, with a count. This tab appears when Work on goals in separate folders is on in Settings › Git, or when a goal folder exists.

Repository view

The Project and Neova tabs use the same layout: branches and working tree on the left, the commit graph in the middle, commit details on the right. In a narrow pane, the commit details replace the graph. Click All commits to go back.

Branches

Branches lists the local branches. The checked-out branch is bold and has a HEAD badge. ↑ and ↓ show how many commits the branch is ahead of or behind its remote.

Click a branch to highlight its line in the graph. The other lines fade and the graph scrolls to the branch’s latest commit. Click the branch again to clear the highlight.

Working tree

Working tree lists files that are not committed, under Staged, Changed and Untracked. Each file has a letter: A added, M modified, D deleted, R renamed, ? untracked. When there is nothing to commit, it says Clean — nothing to commit.

Commit graph

Each row is one commit, with a coloured line per branch. A row shows:

• Labels for branches, remote branches and tags that point at the commit. The checked-out branch label is filled.
• The commit subject.
• An unpushed badge and a hollow dot for commits that are not on the remote.
• The short hash, the author and how long ago it was committed.

The graph shows 50 commits. Click Load more at the bottom for the next 50.

Commit details

Click a commit to see its details:

Field	Shows
Commit	The short hash. When the repository has a remote, click it to open the commit in your browser.
Author	Name and email.
Date	When it was committed.
Parent	The parent commit or commits.
Message	The full commit message.
Files changed	Each file with lines added and removed. Binary files show bin.

How to find a commit on a branch

1. Open the Project tab.
2. Under Branches, click the branch.
3. Click a commit on the highlighted line to see its details.

Neova Git

Neova Git keeps a version history of your project data in its own repository, inside .neova/. It does not touch your code repository: no new files, no commits, no branch changes. Neova hides .neova from your code repository with a local entry in .git/info/exclude.

Once it is set up, Neova commits changes by itself. A few seconds after files under .neova/ stop changing, Neova records them as one commit. The subject names what changed, for example neova: 3 tasks, 1 wiki page. Runtime files such as logs and workspace state are not committed.

When Neova Git is not set up, the Neova tab shows Neova Git is not set up for this project with a Set up Neova Git button. It shows a warning instead when:

• Project files under .neova/ are still tracked by your code repository. The tab shows how many and the commands to run in the project folder to untrack them. Nothing is deleted from disk. Neova notices when it’s done and offers set-up.
• .neova belongs to another git repository. Set-up stays unavailable until you move it out by hand.

How to set up Neova Git

1. Open the Neova tab.
2. Click Set up Neova Git.
3. Read What happens. It lists each step and the command it runs:
   • Create the repository: git init -b neova .neova
   • Write the Neova-managed ignore rules: .neova/.gitignore
   • Record the first version of your data: git commit
   • Hide .neova from your code repository: .git/info/exclude
4. Click Set up. Each step shows its progress.
5. When Neova Git is set up appears, click Done.

If set-up fails, Neova undoes the parts it already created and shows what went wrong. Click Try again when it is offered.

You can also start set-up from Settings › Git.

Neova Git settings

Settings › Git has these cards for Neova Git:

Card	What it shows
Neova Git repository	Whether Neova Git is set up, and Open in Tools › Git.
Back up to GitHub	Whether the history is pushed to a remote (Backing up to … or Not backed up), and This computer’s name, which is shown next to each change. Click Change to rename it.
What gets backed up	Checkboxes for tasks/, wiki/, agents/ (incl. notebooks), goals/ · skills/ and snippets/, and the folders that are never included.

Worktrees

When goal worktrees are on, each goal you open work on gets its own folder next to the project and its own branch. The Worktrees tab lists every folder:

Row	Shows and offers
Your main folder	The MAIN folder and branch, and how many files are uncommitted.
A goal	The goal title, the initials of agents working there, the branch and folder, and N uncommitted. Hover over the count to see the files. Go to goal opens the goal.
Not on a goal	A folder whose name matches no goal, with the commits it has that its base doesn’t. Link to goal… links it to a goal.
Folder is gone	A folder that no longer exists but git still lists. Clean up removes git’s record of it. The branch and its commits stay.

Every row with a folder has Copy path and Reveal in Finder. Click the branch chip to copy the branch name.

A goal row also shows a sketch of its branch against the base branch, a line such as Started from main at a1b2c3d with whether the branch is on GitHub, and the result of the last action you ran.

How to bring a goal’s work into main

On the goal’s row in Worktrees, the buttons name the branch the goal started from, usually main:

1. If main has moved on, click Update from main. This brings main’s new commits into the goal branch. Main is not touched.
2. Click Merge into main. This moves your local main forward by the goal’s commits. Nothing is sent to GitHub.
3. To back up or share the branch, click Push to GitHub.

Hover over a button to preview what it will do in the sketch. A greyed-out button shows why it can’t run when you hover over it. Click Show in graph to open the Project tab with the goal’s branch highlighted.

Open and close work on a goal from Goals.

Related

• Settings › Git turns goal worktrees on and sets up Neova Git.
• Goals: open and close work on a goal.
• MCP tools: enter_goal and request_merge let agents work in a goal’s folder and merge it.