git-notes

Git Notes

Overview

Git notes attach metadata to commits (or any Git object) without modifying the objects themselves. Notes are stored separately and displayed alongside commit messages.

Core principle: Add information to commits after creation without rewriting history.

Core Concepts

| Concept | Description |

|---------|-------------|

| Notes ref | Storage location, default refs/notes/commits |

| Non-invasive | Notes never modify SHA of original object |

| Namespaces | Use --ref for different note categories |

| Display | Notes appear in git log and git show output |

Quick Reference

| Task | Command |

|------|---------|

| Add note | git notes add -m "message" <sha> |

| View note | git notes show <sha> |

| Append | git notes append -m "message" <sha> |

| Edit | git notes edit <sha> |

| Remove | git notes remove <sha> |

| Use namespace | git notes --ref=<name> <command> |

| Push notes | git push origin refs/notes/<name> |

| Fetch notes | git fetch origin refs/notes/<name>:refs/notes/<name> |

| Show in log | git log --notes=<name> |

For complete command reference, see references/commands.md.

Essential Patterns

Code Review Tracking

# Mark reviewed
git notes --ref=reviews add -m "Reviewed-by: Alice <alice@example.com>" abc1234

# View review status
git log --notes=reviews --oneline

Sharing Notes

# Push to remote
git push origin refs/notes/reviews

# Fetch from remote
git fetch origin refs/notes/reviews:refs/notes/reviews

Preserving Through Rebase

git config notes.rewrite.rebase true
git config notes.rewriteMode concatenate

Common Mistakes

| Mistake | Fix |

|---------|-----|

| Notes not showing in log | Specify ref: git log --notes=reviews or configure notes.displayRef |

| Notes lost after rebase | Enable: git config notes.rewrite.rebase true |

| Notes not on remote | Push explicitly: git push origin refs/notes/commits |

| "Note already exists" error | Use -f to overwrite or append to add |

Best Practices

| Practice | Rationale |

|----------|-----------|

| Use namespaces | Separate notes by purpose (reviews, testing, audit) |

| Be explicit about refs | Always specify --ref for non-default notes |

| Push notes explicitly | Document sharing procedures in team guidelines |

| Use append over add -f | Preserve note history when accumulating |

| Configure rewrite preservation | Run git config notes.rewrite.rebase true before rebasing |

Git Notes Command Reference

Complete reference for all git notes commands and options.

Basic Operations

Add a Note

# Add note to current HEAD
git notes add -m "Reviewed by Alice"

# Add note to specific commit
git notes add -m "Tested on Linux" abc1234

# Add note from file
git notes add -F review-comments.txt abc1234

# Add note interactively (opens editor)
git notes add abc1234

# Overwrite existing note
git notes add -f -m "Updated review status" abc1234

# Add empty note
git notes add --allow-empty abc1234

View Notes

# Show note for HEAD
git notes show

# Show note for specific commit
git notes show abc1234

# View commit with notes in log
git log --show-notes
git show abc1234

# List all notes
git notes list

# List note for specific object
git notes list abc1234

Example output with notes:

commit abc1234def567890
Author: Developer <dev@example.com>
Date:   Mon Jan 15 10:00:00 2024 +0000

    feat: implement user authentication

Notes:
    Reviewed by Alice
    Tested-by: CI Bot <ci@example.com>

Append to Notes

# Append to existing note (creates if doesn't exist)
git notes append -m "Additional review comment" abc1234

# Append from file
git notes append -F more-comments.txt abc1234

# Append multiple messages
git notes append -m "Comment 1" -m "Comment 2" abc1234

Edit Notes

# Edit note interactively (opens editor)
git notes edit abc1234

# Edit note for HEAD
git notes edit

Remove Notes

# Remove note from HEAD
git notes remove

# Remove note from specific commit
git notes remove abc1234

# Remove notes from multiple commits
git notes remove abc1234 def5678 ghi9012

# Ignore missing notes (no error if note doesn't exist)
git notes remove --ignore-missing abc1234

# Remove notes via stdin (bulk removal)
echo "abc1234" | git notes remove --stdin

Copy Notes

# Copy note from one commit to another
git notes copy abc1234 def5678

# Copy note to HEAD
git notes copy abc1234

# Force overwrite destination note
git notes copy -f abc1234 def5678

# Bulk copy via stdin (useful with rebase/cherry-pick)
echo "abc1234 def5678" | git notes copy --stdin

Prune Notes

# Remove notes for objects that no longer exist
git notes prune

# Dry-run to see what would be pruned
git notes prune -n

# Verbose output
git notes prune -v

Get Notes Reference

# Show current notes ref being used
git notes get-ref

Using Multiple Namespaces

Notes can be organized into separate namespaces (refs) for different purposes.

Specify Notes Ref

# Add note to specific namespace
git notes --ref=refs/notes/reviews add -m "Approved" abc1234

# Shorthand (refs/notes/ prefix is assumed)
git notes --ref=reviews add -m "Approved" abc1234

# View notes from specific namespace
git notes --ref=reviews show abc1234

# List notes in namespace
git notes --ref=reviews list

Environment Variable

# Set default notes ref for session
export GIT_NOTES_REF=refs/notes/reviews
git notes add -m "Approved"

# View notes from environment ref
git notes show abc1234

Display Multiple Namespaces

# Show specific notes namespace in log
git log --notes=reviews

# Show multiple namespaces
git log --notes=reviews --notes=testing

# Show all notes
git log --notes='*'

# Disable notes display
git log --no-notes

Merging Notes

When notes exist in multiple refs or from different sources, they can be merged.

Merge Notes Refs

# Merge notes from another ref into current
git notes merge refs/notes/other

# Merge with strategy
git notes merge -s union refs/notes/other
git notes merge -s ours refs/notes/other
git notes merge -s theirs refs/notes/other
git notes merge -s cat_sort_uniq refs/notes/other

# Quiet merge
git notes merge -q refs/notes/other

# Verbose merge
git notes merge -v refs/notes/other

Merge Strategies

| Strategy | Behavior |

|----------|----------|

| manual | Interactive conflict resolution (default) |

| ours | Keep local note on conflict |

| theirs | Keep remote note on conflict |

| union | Concatenate both notes |

| cat_sort_uniq | Concatenate, sort lines, remove duplicates |

Resolve Merge Conflicts

# After merge conflict with manual strategy
# Resolve conflicts in .git/NOTES_MERGE_WORKTREE/

# Commit resolved merge
git notes merge --commit

# Abort merge
git notes merge --abort

Configuration Options

Git Config

# Set default notes ref
git config notes.displayRef refs/notes/reviews

# Display multiple notes refs
git config --add notes.displayRef refs/notes/testing

# Set merge strategy for notes
git config notes.mergeStrategy union

# Set merge strategy for specific namespace
git config notes.reviews.mergeStrategy theirs

# Preserve notes during rebase
git config notes.rewrite.rebase true

# Preserve notes during amend
git config notes.rewrite.amend true

# Set rewrite mode
git config notes.rewriteMode concatenate

Sample .gitconfig

[notes]
    displayRef = refs/notes/reviews
    displayRef = refs/notes/testing
    mergeStrategy = union

[notes "reviews"]
    mergeStrategy = theirs

[notes.rewrite]
    rebase = true
    amend = true

Workflow Examples

Code Review Tracking

# Mark commit as reviewed
git notes --ref=reviews add -m "Reviewed-by: Alice <alice@example.com>" abc1234

# Add review comments
git notes --ref=reviews append -m "Consider extracting helper function" abc1234

# View review status
git log --notes=reviews --oneline

# Mark as approved
git notes --ref=reviews add -f -m "APPROVED by Alice" abc1234

Test Results Annotation

# Record test pass
git notes --ref=testing add -m "Tests passed: 2024-01-15
Platform: Linux x64
Coverage: 85%" abc1234

# Record test failure
git notes --ref=testing add -m "FAILED: Integration tests
See: https://ci.example.com/build/123" def5678

# View test status across commits
git log --notes=testing --oneline

Audit Trail

# Add audit note
git notes --ref=audit add -m "Security review: PASSED
Reviewer: Security Team
Date: 2024-01-15
Ticket: SEC-456" abc1234

# Query audit status
git log --notes=audit --grep="Security review"

Sharing Notes

# Push notes to remote
git push origin refs/notes/reviews

# Fetch notes from remote
git fetch origin refs/notes/reviews:refs/notes/reviews

# Push all notes refs
git push origin 'refs/notes/*'

# Fetch all notes refs
git fetch origin 'refs/notes/*:refs/notes/*'

Bulk Operations

# Add notes to all commits by author in date range
git log --format="%H" --author="Alice" --since="2024-01-01" | \
  while read sha; do
    git notes add -m "Author verified" "$sha"
  done

# Remove notes from range of commits
git log --format="%H" HEAD~10..HEAD | xargs git notes remove --ignore-missing