Install git-nested

Requirements

git 2.23 or newer
Python 3.10 or newer. The standalone executable does not need Python.

Pick a way to install

Way	Good for
From PyPI	Most people
Standalone executable	Machines without Python
From source, with shell setup	Working on git-nested
From source, by hand	Full control
From source, editable mode	Using your own changes everywhere

After the install, git nested works like any git command. git finds it because the program is called git-nested and is on your PATH.

From PyPI

pip install git-nested

Or as a tool of its own, with uv or pipx:

uv tool install git-nested
pipx install git-nested

To get the newest code from GitHub instead of a release:

pip install git+https://github.com/thorsten-klein/git-nested

Standalone executable

Each release has one archive per platform. The archive holds a single file with git-nested, Python and everything else it needs. Only git has to be installed.

Platform	Asset
Linux (x86_64)	`git-nested-<version>-x64-linux.tar.xz`
macOS (Apple silicon)	`git-nested-<version>-arm64-macos.tar.xz`
Windows (x86_64)	`git-nested-<version>-x64-windows.zip`

On Linux:

# find the Linux asset of the newest release
ASSET=$(curl -sSL https://api.github.com/repos/thorsten-klein/git-nested/releases/latest | grep -o 'https://[^"]*x64-linux\.tar\.xz')

# download and unpack it
curl -sSL "$ASSET" | tar -xJ
sudo install git-nested /usr/local/bin/   # any folder on PATH works

Keep the file name git-nested (git-nested.exe on Windows). That is how git finds it. The archive also has a copy with the version in its name, for example git-nested-1.2.3.

[!NOTE] The Linux binary needs glibc 2.28 or newer. It runs on Ubuntu 20.04, Debian 10, RHEL 8 and newer. It does not run on musl systems such as Alpine.

[!NOTE] The macOS binary is not signed. macOS blocks it after the download. Run this once to allow it:
xattr -d com.apple.quarantine git-nested

From source, with shell setup

This puts git-nested on your PATH, adds the manual page and turns on tab completion.

For bash and zsh:

git clone https://github.com/thorsten-klein/git-nested /path/to/git-nested
echo 'source /path/to/git-nested/.rc' >> ~/.bashrc
source ~/.bashrc

For fish:

git clone https://github.com/thorsten-klein/git-nested /path/to/git-nested
echo 'source /path/to/git-nested/.fish.rc' >> ~/.config/fish/config.fish

From source, by hand

git clone https://github.com/thorsten-klein/git-nested /path/to/git-nested
export PATH="/path/to/git-nested/bin:$PATH"

Add the export line to your shell profile (~/.bashrc, ~/.zshrc) to keep it.

From source, editable mode

This installs git-nested from your clone. Changes to the code work right away. You do not have to install again.

git clone https://github.com/thorsten-klein/git-nested /path/to/git-nested
pip install -e /path/to/git-nested

Or as a tool of its own, with uv:

uv tool install --editable /path/to/git-nested

Shell completion

The shell setup from source turns completion on for you. For any other way, add one line to your shell profile:

# ~/.bashrc
eval "$(git-nested completion bash)"

# ~/.zshrc, after compinit
eval "$(git-nested completion zsh)"

# ~/.config/fish/config.fish
git-nested completion fish | source

The script comes from git-nested itself. So it always matches the version you have. It completes commands, options, nested folders and branch names. See git nested completion.

Manual page

git nested --help opens the manual page. git has to find it on your MANPATH.

The shell setup from source does this for you.
The standalone archive has the page in man/man1/.
Otherwise add it yourself:

export MANPATH="/path/to/git-nested/man:$MANPATH"

Help for one command needs no setup. git nested pull --help prints the options and some examples.

Check the install

git nested version

This prints the git-nested version, where it is installed and the git version.

Next step

git-nested in 5 minutes