Getting Started & CLI

From a fresh install to your first peer-to-peer clone in four commands.

1. Create your identity

$ gitforest init

Generates an Ed25519 keypair at ~/.config/gitforest/identity.key. Your public key is your identity on the network — no accounts, no passwords, no signups.

2. Add a repo to the network

$ gitforest add /path/to/your/git/repo --name myproject --description "My cool project"

Registers the repo in ~/.config/gitforest/config.toml and makes it shareable.

3. Start the daemon

$ gitforest daemon

This starts:

DHT node on port 9418 — announces your repos, discovers peers via mDNS on LAN
Git protocol server on port 9419 — direct P2P git fetch/push
HTTP API + Web UI at http://127.0.0.1:7878

4. Clone from the network

From any other machine running GitForest:

$ git clone gitforest://<peer_id>/<repo_name>

Requires git-remote-gitforest on your $PATH (the install script handles this).

CLI reference

Command	Description
`gitforest init`	Create a new identity
`gitforest id`	Show your peer ID
`gitforest add <path>`	Add a local git repo to the network
`gitforest list`	List hosted repos
`gitforest remove <name>`	Remove a repo from the network
`gitforest status`	Show network status
`gitforest daemon`	Start the daemon
`gitforest blob add <path>`	Import a file into the blob store
`gitforest blob list`	List all stored blobs
`gitforest blob info <id>`	Show blob details (size, pieces, path)
`gitforest blob remove <id>`	Remove a blob from the store
`gitforest blob pointer <id>`	Generate a pointer file for a blob
`gitforest collection create`	Create a collection manifest
`gitforest collection list`	List collections
`gitforest collection info <id>`	Show collection details
`gitforest compute submit <repo>`	Submit a CI job
`gitforest compute status <id>`	Check job status
`gitforest compute worker-start`	Start offering compute
`gitforest compute worker-stop`	Stop offering compute
`gitforest compute offers`	List available workers
`gitforest compute wallet <chain> <addr>`	Configure payment wallet

Web UI

With the daemon running, open http://127.0.0.1:7878 for:

Repos — manage hosted repos, view commits/branches/ACLs, copy clone URLs
Blobs — browse stored blobs, seeder/leecher counts, manage collections
Compute — view CI jobs, browse workers, monitor payment channels
Network — connected peers, seeding stats
Proposals — incoming merge requests and patches
Identity — your peer ID and key info

Collaboration

GitForest's collaboration layer (gt-collab) provides signed patches, fork + merge requests, and access control lists — designed for a network with no central authority. Merge requests arrive as proposals in the Web UI.

Next: Large File Storage All docs