git-tree (Rust)

Display Git-tracked files in a tree structure with syntax highlighting — like the system tree command, but scoped to files known to Git.

Written in Rust — a single statically-linked binary with zero runtime dependencies beyond Git itself.

Quick Start

# Clone, build, install
git clone git@github.com:chengyaqiang/git-tree-rs.git
cd git-tree-rs
make install

# Ready to use anywhere
git tree -L 2

Makefile Targets

make help         # show all targets
make build        # cargo build --release
make install      # build + install to PREFIX/bin (default ~/.local/bin)
make uninstall    # remove from PREFIX/bin
make check        # run clippy lints
make test         # run cargo test
make version      # print version number
make clean        # remove build artifacts

Custom install path:

make install PREFIX=/usr/local     # system-wide
make install PREFIX=~/.local       # user-local (default)

Example

Running git tree -L 2 in its own repository:

git-tree-rs/
├── .gitignore
├── Cargo.lock
├── Cargo.toml
├── Makefile
├── man/
│   └── git-tree.1
├── README.md
└── src/
    ├── color.rs
    ├── git.rs
    ├── main.rs
    └── tree.rs

Usage

git tree                  # entire repository (tracked files only)
git tree src/             # subdirectory
git tree -L 2             # depth limit
git tree -d               # directories only
git tree -a               # include untracked files
git tree -A               # include ALL files (.gitignore'd too)
git tree --color=always   # force color output
git tree --color=never    # disable color
git tree --no-git-status  # suppress Git status prefixes
git tree --help           # full help

Git Status Prefixes

By default each entry is prefixed with a one-character Git state indicator (following eza --git), so you can spot uncommitted work at a glance:

State	Prefix	Color
committed	✓	Dim (tree color)
modified	M	Yellow (LS_COLORS: gm)
staged	+	Green (LS_COLORS: ga)
untracked	?	Red (LS_COLORS: gu)

Directories show the aggregate state of their descendants (staged > modified > untracked). A file that is both staged and modified is reported as staged. Regular-file names are recolored by state; directories, executables and symlinks keep their type color and rely on the prefix.

git-tree-rs/
├── ✓ .gitignore
├── + Cargo.toml          <- staged
├── M src/main.rs         <- modified
└── ✓ src/
    └── + tree.rs

Use --no-git-status to restore the original prefix-free layout.

Color Rules

Entry type	LS_COLORS key	Default
Directory	di	Bold blue
Executable	ex	Bold green
Symlink	ln	Bold cyan
Orphaned link	or	Red bg
Hidden file	—	Dim
Tree connector	—	Dim
Git: modified	gm	Yellow bold
Git: staged	ga	Green bold
Git: untracked	gu	Red bold

Colors automatically follow LS_COLORS and respect NO_COLOR=1.

Architecture

src/
├── main.rs      clap derive CLI + module wiring
├── color.rs     ANSI codes, LS_COLORS parser, NO_COLOR compliance
├── git.rs       git ls-files integration, file-set selection, repo root
├── gitstate.rs  git status --porcelain parsing, GitState classification
└── tree.rs      BTreeMap tree builder, state aggregation, recursive renderer

Module	Responsibility
main.rs	Argument parsing, error handling, orchestration
color.rs	Color mode detection, LS_COLORS parsing, ANSI escape generation
git.rs	git ls-files invocation, path filtering, repo root resolution
gitstate.rs	git status --porcelain parsing, committed/modified/staged/untracked classification
tree.rs	In-memory tree from flat path list, directory state aggregation, depth-limited rendering

Requirements

• Rust ≥ 1.70
• Git ≥ 2.0

Comparison

Aspect	Bash (git-tree)	Rust (git-tree-rs)
Dependencies	bash ≥ 4, git	git only
Portability	Unix with bash 4	Cross-platform
Startup	~50 ms	~2 ms
Binary size	15 KB	768 KB (stripped)
Code	436 lines, monolithic	627 lines, 4 modules
Error handling	set -e + ad-hoc	Result<T,E> + ?

License

MIT — see LICENSE.