mk-git-shadow

mk-git-shadow is a small shell script that creates a shadow Git repository. It sets up a new git directory that inherits objects from the current repository via Git’s alternates feature and creates a worktree that points back to the current working directory.

This is useful in sandboxed or restricted environments where direct writes to the .git directory are prohibited or not desired. The shadow repository shares objects with the original repository while keeping its own history and configuration.

Basic Usage

# Create a shadow repo `.xgit` in the current directory
mk-git-shadow .xgit

Once the shadow repository is created you can run Git commands against it by setting the GIT_DIR environment variable (or using the --git-dir option). For example:

# Commit changes in the shadow repository
GIT_DIR=.xgit git commit -a

# View log from the shadow repository
git --git-dir .xgit log

And later pull the changes from the shadow repository:

git pull .xgit

Use with OpenAI Codex

# Create a shadow repo for Codex
mk-git-shadow .aigit

# Run Codex inside the shadow environment
GIT_DIR=$(pwd)/.aigit npx @openai/codex ...

# Inspect the shadow repository state
git --git-dir .aigit log

# Merge changes back into the original repository
git pull .aigit