Chuck: CLI to pick upstream-worthy commits

3 months ago 1

Interactive commit selection for upstream contributions

Chuck helps you easily select which commits from your template-based project should go back to the upstream template. No more manually figuring out what's template-worthy vs app-specific!

When you create an app from a GitHub template and build your app, you make commits that are:

✅ Template-worthy: Shared utilities, bug fixes, improvements everyone could use
❌ App-specific: Your business logic, config, deployment scripts

Chuck makes it trivial to interactively select the good stuff and create a clean branch ready for upstream contribution.

Works with GitHub templates via .chuckrc configuration!

GitHub CLI (brew install gh)
Rust (for building from source)

git clone <this-repo> cd chuck-cli cargo build --release cp target/release/chuck /usr/local/bin/ # or add to PATH

Chuck works with GitHub templates using .chuckrc configuration:

# 1. Create from template on GitHub (web UI) # 2. Clone your new repo git clone [email protected]:yourusername/your-app.git cd your-app # 3. Chuck reads .chuckrc and sets up template remote automatically chuck # Reads .chuckrc, adds remote, works!

Add a .chuckrc file to your template repository:

[template] url = "[email protected]:company/web-template.git"

When someone creates a project from your template, this file comes with it and Chuck automatically:

Reads the template URL from .chuckrc
Adds it as a remote named "chuck-template"
Fetches the latest changes
Compares commits and shows the interactive selection

[email protected]:owner/repo.git (SSH)
https://github.com/owner/repo.git (HTTPS)
https://github.com/owner/repo (HTTPS without .git)

Chuck will:

Read .chuckrc to find the template repository URL
Add the template as a remote and fetch latest changes
Show you all commits since the template's latest commit
Let you interactively select which ones to contribute back
Create a clean branch with just those commits
Push the branch to the template repository

Chuck shows you a terminal UI like this:

🧔 Chuck: 3 of 4 commits selected ┌─ Commits ─────────────────────────────────────┐┌─ Details ──────────────────────┐ │► [✓] abc1234 - Fix bug in auth middleware ││Hash: abc1234567890abcdef... │ │ [ ] def5678 - Add my company's payment logic ││Author: John Doe │ │ [✓] ghi9012 - Improve database connection ││Date: 2025-01-20 14:30 │ │ [ ] jkl3456 - Add deployment config ││ │ └───────────────────────────────────────────────┘│Message: │ │Fix bug in auth middleware │ ↑/↓/j/k: navigate │ Space: toggle │ a: all │ │ │ n: none │ i: invert │ h/?: help │ Enter: proceed │Files: │ q: quit │ • lib/auth.rs │ │ • lib/middleware.rs │ └────────────────────────────────┘

Controls:

↑/↓ or j/k - Navigate between commits
Space - Toggle selection
a - Select all commits
n - Select none (clear all)
i - Invert selection
h or ? - Show help
Enter - Create branch with selected commits
q or Esc - Quit without doing anything

After selecting commits, Chuck will:

Create a timestamped branch (e.g., chuck/20250120-143022)
Cherry-pick your selected commits onto the template's base
Attempt to push the branch to the template repository
Provide you with a URL to create the pull request

🧔 ✅ SUCCESS! All operations completed successfully. 🧔 Check the URL above to create your pull request.

Must be run in a GitHub repository created from a template
GitHub CLI must be installed and authenticated (gh auth login)
Repository must have a .chuckrc file with template URL
Repository must have commits since the template's latest commit

Chuck gives helpful error messages:

No .chuckrc: "No template found. Chuck needs a .chuckrc file with template URL."
No GitHub CLI: "GitHub CLI not found. Install with: brew install gh"
Not authenticated: "Make sure you're in a GitHub repository and authenticated with 'gh auth login'"
No commits: "Looks like you haven't made any commits since the template. Get to work!"

# 1. Create from template on GitHub (web UI) # 2. Clone your new repo git clone [email protected]:myuser/my-awesome-app.git cd my-awesome-app # 3. Build your app (template already has .chuckrc) git commit -m "Add user authentication" # ← Template-worthy git commit -m "Add company branding" # ← App-specific git commit -m "Fix database connection bug" # ← Template-worthy git commit -m "Deploy to our servers" # ← App-specific # 4. Interactive selection chuck # Select commits 1 and 3 using the TUI # 5. Chuck creates branch and pushes automatically # 6. Create PR using the provided GitHub URL

chuck --help # Show help chuck --version # Show version chuck --verbose # Show detailed output during operation

Current version: 0.2.3

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