# git-notes(1) Manual Page

## NAME

git-notes - Add or inspect object notes

## SYNOPSIS

    git notes [list [<object>]]
    git notes add [-f] [--allow-empty] [--[no-]separator | --separator=<paragraph-break>] [--[no-]stripspace] [-F <file> | -m <msg> | (-c | -C) <object>] [-e] [<object>]
    git notes copy [-f] ( --stdin | <from-object> [<to-object>] )
    git notes append [--allow-empty] [--[no-]separator | --separator=<paragraph-break>] [--[no-]stripspace] [-F <file> | -m <msg> | (-c | -C) <object>] [-e] [<object>]
    git notes edit [--allow-empty] [<object>] [--[no-]stripspace]
    git notes show [<object>]
    git notes merge [-v | -q] [-s <strategy> ] <notes-ref>
    git notes merge --commit [-v | -q]
    git notes merge --abort [-v | -q]
    git notes remove [--ignore-missing] [--stdin] [<object>…​]
    git notes prune [-n] [-v]
    git notes get-ref

## DESCRIPTION

Adds, removes, or reads notes attached to objects, without touching the objects themselves.

By default, notes are saved to and read from `refs/notes/commits`, but this default can be overridden. See the OPTIONS, CONFIGURATION, and ENVIRONMENT sections below. If this ref does not exist, it will be quietly created when it is first needed to store a note.

A typical use of notes is to supplement a commit message without changing the commit itself. Notes can be shown by `git` `log` along with the original commit message. To distinguish these notes from the message stored in the commit object, the notes are indented like the message, after an unindented line saying "Notes (<refname>):" (or "Notes:" for `refs/notes/commits`).

Notes can also be added to patches prepared with `git` `format-patch` by using the `--notes` option. Such notes are added as a patch commentary after a three dash separator line.

To change which notes are shown by `git` `log`, see the `notes.displayRef` discussion in CONFIGURATION.

See the `notes.rewrite.`<command> configuration for a way to carry notes across commands that rewrite commits.

## SUBCOMMANDS

`list`

  List the notes object for a given object. If no object is given, show a list of all note objects and the objects they annotate (in the format "<note-object> <annotated-object>"). This is the default subcommand if no subcommand is given.

`add`

  Add notes for a given object (defaults to `HEAD`). Abort if the object already has notes (use `-f` to overwrite existing notes). However, if you’re using `add` interactively (using an editor to supply the notes contents), then - instead of aborting - the existing notes will be opened in the editor (like the `edit` subcommand). If you specify multiple `-m` and `-F`, a blank line will be inserted between the messages. Use the `--separator` option to insert other delimiters. You can use `-e` to edit and fine-tune the message(s) supplied from `-m` and `-F` options interactively (using an editor) before adding the note.

`copy`

  Copy the notes for the first object onto the second object (defaults to `HEAD`). Abort if the second object already has notes, or if the first object has none (use `-f` to overwrite existing notes to the second object). This subcommand is equivalent to: `git` `notes` `add` [`-f`] `-C` `$`(`git` `notes` `list` <from-object>) <to-object>

  In `--stdin` mode, take lines in the format

      <from-object> SP <to-object> [ SP <rest> ] LF

  on standard input, and copy the notes from each <from-object> to its corresponding <to-object>. (The optional <rest> is ignored so that the command can read the input given to the `post-rewrite` hook.)

  `--stdin` cannot be combined with object names given on the command line.

`append`

  Append new message(s) given by `-m` or `-F` options to an existing note, or add them as a new note if one does not exist, for the object (defaults to `HEAD`). When appending to an existing note, a blank line is added before each new message as an inter-paragraph separator. The separator can be customized with the `--separator` option. Edit the notes to be appended given by `-m` and `-F` options with `-e` interactively (using an editor) before appending the note.

`edit`

  Edit the notes for a given object (defaults to `HEAD`).

`show`

  Show the notes for a given object (defaults to `HEAD`).

`merge`

  Merge the given notes ref into the current notes ref. This will try to merge the changes made by the given notes ref (called "remote") since the merge-base (if any) into the current notes ref (called "local").

  If conflicts arise and a strategy for automatically resolving conflicting notes (see the "NOTES MERGE STRATEGIES" section) is not given, the `manual` resolver is used. This resolver checks out the conflicting notes in a special worktree (.`git/NOTES_MERGE_WORKTREE`), and instructs the user to manually resolve the conflicts there. When done, the user can either finalize the merge with `git` `notes` `merge` `--commit`, or abort the merge with `git` `notes` `merge` `--abort`.

`remove`

  Remove the notes for given objects (defaults to `HEAD`). When giving zero or one object from the command line, this is equivalent to specifying an empty note message to the `edit` subcommand.

  In `--stdin` mode, also remove the object names given on standard input. In other words, `--stdin` can be combined with object names from the command line.

`prune`

  Remove all notes for non-existing/unreachable objects.

`get-ref`

  Print the current notes ref. This provides an easy way to retrieve the current notes ref (e.g. from scripts).

## OPTIONS

`-f`
`--force`

  When adding notes to an object that already has notes, overwrite the existing notes (instead of aborting).

`-m` <msg>
`--message=`<msg>

  Use the given note message (instead of prompting). If multiple `-m` options are given, their values are concatenated as separate paragraphs.

`-F` <file>
`--file=`<file>

  Take the note message from the given file. Use `-` to read the note message from the standard input.

`-C` <object>
`--reuse-message=`<object>

  Take the given blob object (for example, another note) as the note message. (Use `git` `notes` `copy` <object> instead to copy notes between objects.) Implies `--no-stripspace` since the default behavior is to copy the message verbatim.

`-c` <object>
`--reedit-message=`<object>

  Like `-C`, but with `-c` the editor is invoked, so that the user can further edit the note message.

`--allow-empty`

  Allow an empty note object to be stored. The default behavior is to automatically remove empty notes.

`--separator=`<paragraph-break>
`--separator`
`--no-separator`

  Specify a string used as a custom inter-paragraph separator (a newline is added at the end as needed). If `--no-separator`, no separators will be added between paragraphs. Defaults to a blank line.

`--stripspace`
`--no-stripspace`

  Clean up whitespace. Specifically (see git-stripspace(1)):

  - remove trailing whitespace from all lines

  - collapse multiple consecutive empty lines into one empty line

  - remove empty lines from the beginning and end of the input

  - add a missing `\n` to the last line if necessary.

  `--stripspace` is the default except for `-C`/`--reuse-message`. However, keep in mind that this depends on the order of similar options. For example, for `-C` <object> `-m`<message>, `--stripspace` will be used because the default for `-m` overrides the previous `-C`. This is a known limitation that may be fixed in the future.

`--ref=`<ref>

  Manipulate the notes tree in <ref>. This overrides `GIT_NOTES_REF` and the `core.notesRef` configuration. The ref specifies the full refname when it begins with `refs/notes/`; when it begins with `notes/`, `refs/` and otherwise `refs/notes/` is prefixed to form a full name of the ref.

`--ignore-missing`

  Do not consider it an error to request removing notes from an object that does not have notes attached to it.

`--stdin`

  Only valid for `remove` and `copy`. See the respective subcommands.

`-n`
`--dry-run`

  Do not remove anything; just report the object names whose notes would be removed.

`-s` <strategy>
`--strategy=`<strategy>

  When merging notes, resolve notes conflicts using the given strategy. The following strategies are recognized: `manual` (default), `ours`, `theirs`, `union` and `cat_sort_uniq`. This option overrides the `notes.mergeStrategy` configuration setting. See the "NOTES MERGE STRATEGIES" section below for more information on each notes merge strategy.

`--commit`

  Finalize an in-progress `git` `notes` `merge`. Use this option when you have resolved the conflicts that `git` `notes` `merge` stored in .`git/NOTES_MERGE_WORKTREE`. This amends the partial merge commit created by `git` `notes` `merge` (stored in .`git/NOTES_MERGE_PARTIAL`) by adding the notes in .`git/NOTES_MERGE_WORKTREE`. The notes ref stored in the .`git/NOTES_MERGE_REF` symref is updated to the resulting commit.

`--abort`

  Abort/reset an in-progress `git` `notes` `merge`, i.e. a notes merge with conflicts. This simply removes all files related to the notes merge.

`-q`
`--quiet`

  When merging notes, operate quietly.

`-v`
`--verbose`

  When merging notes, be more verbose. When pruning notes, report all object names whose notes are removed.

## DISCUSSION

Commit notes are blobs containing extra information about an object (usually information to supplement a commit’s message). These blobs are taken from notes refs. A notes ref is usually a branch which contains "files" whose paths are the object names for the objects they describe, with some directory separators included for performance reasons [1].

Every notes change creates a new commit at the specified notes ref. You can therefore inspect the history of the notes by invoking, e.g., `git` `log` `-p` `notes/commits`. Currently the commit message only records which operation triggered the update, and the commit authorship is determined according to the usual rules (see git-commit(1)). These details may change in the future.

It is also permitted for a notes ref to point directly to a tree object, in which case the history of the notes can be read with `git` `log` `-p` `-g` <refname>.

## NOTES MERGE STRATEGIES

The default notes merge strategy is `manual`, which checks out conflicting notes in a special work tree for resolving notes conflicts (.`git/NOTES_MERGE_WORKTREE`), and instructs the user to resolve the conflicts in that work tree. When done, the user can either finalize the merge with `git` `notes` `merge` `--commit`, or abort the merge with `git` `notes` `merge` `--abort`.

Users may select an automated merge strategy from among the following using either `-s`/`--strategy` option or configuring `notes.mergeStrategy` accordingly:

`ours` automatically resolves conflicting notes in favor of the local version (i.e. the current notes ref).

`theirs` automatically resolves notes conflicts in favor of the remote version (i.e. the given notes ref being merged into the current notes ref).

`union` automatically resolves notes conflicts by concatenating the local and remote versions.

`cat_sort_uniq` is similar to `union`, but in addition to concatenating the local and remote versions, this strategy also sorts the resulting lines, and removes duplicate lines from the result. This is equivalent to applying the "cat | sort | uniq" shell pipeline to the local and remote versions. This strategy is useful if the notes follow a line-based format where one wants to avoid duplicated lines in the merge result. Note that if either the local or remote version contain duplicate lines prior to the merge, these will also be removed by this notes merge strategy.

## EXAMPLES

You can use notes to add annotations with information that was not available at the time a commit was written.

    $ git notes add -m 'Tested-by: Johannes Sixt <j6t@kdbg.org>' 72a144e2
    $ git show -s 72a144e
    [...]
        Signed-off-by: Junio C Hamano <gitster@pobox.com>

    Notes:
        Tested-by: Johannes Sixt <j6t@kdbg.org>

In principle, a note is a regular Git blob, and any kind of (non-)format is accepted. You can binary-safely create notes from arbitrary files using `git` `hash-object`:

    $ cc *.c
    $ blob=$(git hash-object -w a.out)
    $ git notes --ref=built add --allow-empty -C "$blob" HEAD

(You cannot simply use `git` `notes` `--ref=built` `add` `-F` `a.out` `HEAD` because that is not binary-safe.) Of course, it doesn’t make much sense to display non-text-format notes with `git` `log`, so if you use such notes, you’ll probably need to write some special-purpose tools to do something useful with them.

## CONFIGURATION

`core.notesRef`

  Notes ref to read and manipulate instead of `refs/notes/commits`. Must be an unabbreviated ref name. This setting can be overridden through the environment and command line.

Everything above this line in this section isn’t included from the git-config(1) documentation. The content that follows is the same as what’s found there:

`notes.mergeStrategy`

  Which merge strategy to choose by default when resolving notes conflicts. Must be one of `manual`, `ours`, `theirs`, `union`, or `cat_sort_uniq`. Defaults to `manual`. See the "NOTES MERGE STRATEGIES" section of git-notes(1) for more information on each strategy.

  This setting can be overridden by passing the `--strategy` option to git-notes(1).

`notes.`<name>`.mergeStrategy`

  Which merge strategy to choose when doing a notes merge into `refs/notes/`<name>. This overrides the more general `notes.mergeStrategy`. See the "NOTES MERGE STRATEGIES" section in git-notes(1) for more information on the available strategies.

`notes.displayRef`

  Which ref (or refs, if a glob or specified more than once), in addition to the default set by `core.notesRef` or `GIT_NOTES_REF`, to read notes from when showing commit messages with the `git` `log` family of commands.

  This setting can be overridden with the `GIT_NOTES_DISPLAY_REF` environment variable, which must be a colon separated list of refs or globs.

  A warning will be issued for refs that do not exist, but a glob that does not match any refs is silently ignored.

  This setting can be disabled by the `--no-notes` option to the git-log(1) family of commands, or by the `--notes=`<ref> option accepted by those commands.

  The effective value of `core.notesRef` (possibly overridden by `GIT_NOTES_REF`) is also implicitly added to the list of refs to be displayed.

`notes.rewrite.`<command>

  When rewriting commits with <command> (currently `amend` or `rebase`), if this variable is `false`, git will not copy notes from the original to the rewritten commit. Defaults to `true`. See also `notes.rewriteRef` below.

  This setting can be overridden with the `GIT_NOTES_REWRITE_REF` environment variable, which must be a colon separated list of refs or globs.

`notes.rewriteMode`

  When copying notes during a rewrite (see the `notes.rewrite.`<command> option), determines what to do if the target commit already has a note. Must be one of `overwrite`, `concatenate`, `cat_sort_uniq`, or `ignore`. Defaults to `concatenate`.

  This setting can be overridden with the `GIT_NOTES_REWRITE_MODE` environment variable.

`notes.rewriteRef`

  When copying notes during a rewrite, specifies the (fully qualified) ref whose notes should be copied. May be a glob, in which case notes in all matching refs will be copied. You may also specify this configuration several times.

  Does not have a default value; you must configure this variable to enable note rewriting. Set it to `refs/notes/commits` to enable rewriting for the default commit notes.

  Can be overridden with the `GIT_NOTES_REWRITE_REF` environment variable. See `notes.rewrite.`<command> above for a further description of its format.

## ENVIRONMENT

`GIT_NOTES_REF`

  Which ref to manipulate notes from, instead of `refs/notes/commits`. This overrides the `core.notesRef` setting.

`GIT_NOTES_DISPLAY_REF`

  Colon-delimited list of refs or globs indicating which refs, in addition to the default from `core.notesRef` or `GIT_NOTES_REF`, to read notes from when showing commit messages. This overrides the `notes.displayRef` setting.

  A warning will be issued for refs that do not exist, but a glob that does not match any refs is silently ignored.

`GIT_NOTES_REWRITE_MODE`

  When copying notes during a rewrite, what to do if the target commit already has a note. Must be one of `overwrite`, `concatenate`, `cat_sort_uniq`, or `ignore`. This overrides the `core.rewriteMode` setting.

`GIT_NOTES_REWRITE_REF`

  When rewriting commits, which notes to copy from the original to the rewritten commit. Must be a colon-delimited list of refs or globs.

  If not set in the environment, the list of notes to copy depends on the `notes.rewrite.`<command> and `notes.rewriteRef` settings.

## GIT

Part of the git(1) suite

1. Permitted pathnames have the form bf`/`fe`/`30`/`…​`/`680d5a…​: a sequence of directory names of two hexadecimal digits each followed by a filename with the rest of the object ID.