fake-it-til-you-git

v1.3.0

Published

6 months ago

A modern CLI tool to generate fake Git commit history for your GitHub/GitLab profile

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matifanger

git github fake history commits cli typescript contribution-graph

🚀 fake-it-til-you-git

A modern, TypeScript-powered CLI tool to generate realistic fake Git commit history for your GitHub profile. Perfect for testing, demonstrations, or filling gaps in your contribution graph.

✨ Features

🎯 Multiple Distribution Patterns: Uniform, random, gaussian, and custom distributions
📅 Flexible Date Ranges: Specify exact dates or days back from today
👤 Custom Author Info: Set custom author name and email for commits
🎨 Multiple Message Styles: Realistic, lorem ipsum, or emoji-based commit messages
🔍 Preview Mode: Safe preview of commits before creation
🌱 Smart Repository Handling: Auto-detects or initializes Git repositories
🔄 Reproducible Results: Use seeds for consistent output
📊 GitHub-style Contribution Graph: Visual preview of your commit pattern
🛡️ Backup & Recovery: Automatic backup system for safe operations
🚀 Auto-push Support: Optionally push commits to remote repositories
🎛️ Configuration Files: JSON-based configuration with CLI overrides
🔧 Cross-platform: Works on Windows, macOS, and Linux

📦 Installation

Global Installation

# Install globally via npm
npm install -g fake-it-til-you-git

# Or using yarn
yarn global add fake-it-til-you-git

Local Installation

# Install locally in your project
npm install fake-it-til-you-git

# Or using yarn
yarn add fake-it-til-you-git

From Source

# Clone the repository
git clone https://github.com/matifanger/fake-it-til-you-git.git
cd fake-it-til-you-git

# Install dependencies
npm install

# Build the project
npm run build

# Link globally (optional)
npm link

🚀 Quick Start

# Generate 30 days of commits with default settings
fake-it-til-you-git --days 30

# Preview commits without creating them (safe mode)
fake-it-til-you-git --days 30 --preview

# Generate commits for a specific date range
fake-it-til-you-git --start-date 2023-01-01 --end-date 2023-12-31

# Create commits with custom author info
fake-it-til-you-git --days 90 --author-name "John Doe" --author-email "[email protected]"

📖 Usage

Basic Command Structure

fake-it-til-you-git [options]

Command Line Options

Date and Range Options

-d, --days <number> - Number of days to go back from today (1-3650)
--start-date <date> - Start date in YYYY-MM-DD format
--end-date <date> - End date in YYYY-MM-DD format

Commit Configuration

-c, --commits <number> - Maximum commits per day (1-100, default: 10)
--distribution <type> - Distribution pattern: uniform, random, gaussian, custom
--message-style <style> - Message style: default, lorem, emoji

Author Configuration

--author-name <name> - Git author name (overrides config file)
--author-email <email> - Git author email (overrides config file)

Behavior Options

--preview - Preview commits without creating them (safe mode)
--config <path> - Path to JSON configuration file
--push - Push commits to remote repository after creation
--seed <string> - Random seed for reproducible results
--dev - Development mode: use test-repo directory
--repo-path <path> - Path to the git repository (default: current directory)
-y, --yes - Automatically answer yes to all prompts (non-interactive mode)
-v, --verbose - Enable verbose output for debugging

Utility Options

-h, --help - Display help information
--version - Display version number

📊 Distribution Types

uniform - Evenly distributed commits across the date range

fake-it-til-you-git --days 30 --distribution uniform --commits 5

random - Random distribution (default)

fake-it-til-you-git --days 30 --distribution random

gaussian - Bell curve distribution (more commits in the middle)

fake-it-til-you-git --days 90 --distribution gaussian --commits 8

custom - Custom distribution pattern

fake-it-til-you-git --days 60 --distribution custom --commits 12

pattern - 🎨 NEW! Create visual patterns in your GitHub contribution graph

# Heart pattern
fake-it-til-you-git --pattern heart --days 365

# Write text
fake-it-til-you-git --pattern-text "HELLO" --days 365

# Custom ASCII art
fake-it-til-you-git --custom-pattern "  ██  \n ████ \n  ██  " --days 365

🎨 Message Styles

default - Realistic commit messages (default)
- "Fix bug", "Add feature", "Update documentation", etc.
lorem - Lorem ipsum style messages
- "Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet", "Consectetur adipiscing elit", etc.
emoji - Messages with emojis
- "🐛 Fix bug", "✨ Add feature", "📚 Update docs", etc.

🎨 Pattern System (NEW!)

Create amazing visual patterns in your GitHub contribution graph! Perfect for making your profile stand out or sending messages through your commit history.

Preset Patterns

Choose from beautiful predefined patterns:

# Heart shape - perfect for showing love for coding
fake-it-til-you-git --pattern heart --days 365

# Star pattern - show you're a star developer
fake-it-til-you-git --pattern star --days 365

# Wave pattern - smooth and elegant
fake-it-til-you-git --pattern wave --days 365

# Geometric shapes
fake-it-til-you-git --pattern square --days 365
fake-it-til-you-git --pattern triangle --days 365
fake-it-til-you-git --pattern diamond --days 365
fake-it-til-you-git --pattern cross --days 365

Text Patterns

Write letters and numbers in your contribution graph:

# Write your name
fake-it-til-you-git --pattern-text "JOHN" --days 365

# Show the year
fake-it-til-you-git --pattern-text "2025" --days 365

# Numbers and letters
fake-it-til-you-git --pattern-text "DEV123" --days 365

Custom ASCII Patterns

Create your own patterns using ASCII art:

# Simple smiley face
fake-it-til-you-git --custom-pattern " ◯◯◯ \n◯   ◯\n ◯ ◯ \n  ◯  " --days 365

# Arrow pointing up
fake-it-til-you-git --custom-pattern "  ██  \n ████ \n██████\n  ██  \n  ██  " --days 365

# Custom initials
fake-it-til-you-git --custom-pattern "██ ██\n██ ██\n█████\n██ ██\n██ ██" --days 365

Pattern Customization

Fine-tune your patterns with these options:

# Scale patterns larger (1-5)
fake-it-til-you-git --pattern heart --pattern-scale 2 --days 365

# Adjust commit intensity
fake-it-til-you-git --pattern star --pattern-intensity high --days 365
fake-it-til-you-git --pattern wave --pattern-intensity low --days 365

# Combine all options
fake-it-til-you-git --pattern-text "2024" \
  --pattern-scale 1 \
  --pattern-intensity medium \
  --days 365

Pattern Configuration File

You can also define patterns in configuration files:

{
  "commits": {
    "maxPerDay": 8,
    "distribution": "pattern",
    "pattern": {
      "type": "preset",
      "preset": "heart",
      "scale": 2,
      "intensity": "high",
      "centerX": 0.5,
      "centerY": 0.5
    }
  }
}

Or for text patterns:

{
  "commits": {
    "distribution": "pattern",
    "pattern": {
      "type": "text",
      "text": "HELLO",
      "scale": 1,
      "intensity": "medium"
    }
  }
}

Or for custom patterns:

{
  "commits": {
    "distribution": "pattern",
    "pattern": {
      "type": "custom",
      "custom": "  ██  \\n ████ \\n██████\\n ████ \\n  ██  ",
      "scale": 1,
      "intensity": "high"
    }
  }
}

📋 Examples

Basic Usage

# Generate 1 year of commits
fake-it-til-you-git --days 365

# Generate commits for specific months
fake-it-til-you-git --start-date 2023-06-01 --end-date 2023-08-31

# Preview before creating
fake-it-til-you-git --days 30 --preview --verbose

Advanced Usage

# High-activity simulation with gaussian distribution
fake-it-til-you-git --days 90 --commits 15 --distribution gaussian --author-name "Active Developer"

# Consistent results with seed
fake-it-til-you-git --seed "project-2024" --days 60 --commits 8

# Custom repository path
fake-it-til-you-git --repo-path /path/to/my/project --days 30 --push

# Non-interactive mode (auto-accept all prompts)
fake-it-til-you-git --yes --days 30 --commits 5

# Automation-friendly with custom config
fake-it-til-you-git --yes --config production.json --push

# Development testing
fake-it-til-you-git --dev --days 10 --commits 3 --preview

🎨 Pattern Examples

# 💝 Create a heart pattern for your coding passion
fake-it-til-you-git --pattern heart --days 365 --author-name "Passionate Developer" --preview

# ⭐ Star pattern with high intensity for impressive activity
fake-it-til-you-git --pattern star --pattern-intensity high --days 365 --commits 12

# 📝 Write your name or brand in the contribution graph
fake-it-til-you-git --pattern-text "GITHUB" --days 365 --pattern-scale 1

# 🎯 Show the current year prominently
fake-it-til-you-git --pattern-text "2024" --pattern-scale 2 --pattern-intensity high --days 365

# 🌊 Elegant wave pattern for smooth activity visualization
fake-it-til-you-git --pattern wave --days 365 --message-style emoji

# 🔷 Diamond pattern with custom scaling
fake-it-til-you-git --pattern diamond --pattern-scale 3 --days 365

# 🎨 Custom ASCII art pattern
fake-it-til-you-git --custom-pattern "  ██  \\n ████ \\n██████\\n ████ \\n  ██  " --days 365

# 🔤 Multi-word text patterns
fake-it-til-you-git --pattern-text "HELLO WORLD" --days 365 --pattern-intensity medium

# 🎭 Use configuration file for complex patterns
fake-it-til-you-git --config test-configs/pattern-examples.json --preview

# 🚀 Combine patterns with other options for maximum impact
fake-it-til-you-git --pattern heart \\
  --pattern-scale 2 \\
  --pattern-intensity high \\
  --author-name "Code Artist" \\
  --author-email "[email protected]" \\
  --message-style emoji \\
  --seed "art-2024" \\
  --days 365 \\
  --preview

Using Configuration Files

Create a my-config.json file:

{
  "author": {
    "name": "John Developer",
    "email": "[email protected]"
  },
  "dateRange": {
    "startDate": "2023-01-01",
    "endDate": "2023-12-31"
  },
  "commits": {
    "maxPerDay": 12,
    "distribution": "gaussian",
    "messageStyle": "default"
  },
  "options": {
    "preview": false,
    "push": true,
    "verbose": false,
    "repositoryPath": ".",
    "yes": false
  },
  "seed": "consistent-2024"
}

Then use it:

fake-it-til-you-git --config my-config.json

⚙️ Configuration

Configuration File Structure

The tool supports JSON configuration files with the following structure:

{
  "author": {
    "name": "Your Name",
    "email": "[email protected]"
  },
  "dateRange": {
    "startDate": "2023-01-01",
    "endDate": "2023-12-31"
  },
  "commits": {
    "maxPerDay": 10,
    "distribution": "random",
    "messageStyle": "default"
  },
  "options": {
    "preview": false,
    "push": false,
    "verbose": false,
    "dev": false,
    "repositoryPath": ".",
    "yes": false
  },
  "seed": "optional-seed-value"
}

Configuration Priority

Configuration values are applied in the following order (later values override earlier ones):

Default values (built-in defaults)
Configuration file (if specified)
Command line arguments (highest priority)

Default Configuration

{
  "author": {
    "name": "Fake Git User",
    "email": "[email protected]"
  },
  "dateRange": {
    "startDate": "auto-calculated based on days",
    "endDate": "today"
  },
  "commits": {
    "maxPerDay": 10,
    "distribution": "random",
    "messageStyle": "default"
  },
  "options": {
    "preview": false,
    "push": false,
    "verbose": false,
    "dev": false,
    "repositoryPath": ".",
    "yes": false
  }
}

🛡️ Safety Features

Preview Mode

Always test your configuration with --preview first:

fake-it-til-you-git --days 30 --preview --verbose

This shows you:

📊 GitHub-style contribution graph
📈 Detailed statistics and analysis
🎯 Realism score and suggestions
⚡ Pattern analysis (weekdays vs weekends)
📅 Monthly activity breakdown

Backup System

The tool automatically creates backups before making changes:

Backups are stored in .fake-git-backups/ directory
Automatic cleanup of old backups
Recovery instructions provided if something goes wrong

Validation

Comprehensive validation ensures:

Valid date ranges and formats
Reasonable commit counts
Proper email format validation
Git repository integrity checks

🔧 Development

Prerequisites

Node.js ≥ 16.0.0
npm or yarn
Git

Development Setup

# Clone repository
git clone https://github.com/matifanger/fake-it-til-you-git.git
cd fake-it-til-you-git

# Install dependencies
npm install

# Run in development mode
npm run dev -- --help

# Run tests
npm test

# Run tests with coverage
npm run test:coverage

# Build project
npm run build

# Run linting
npm run lint

# Format code
npm run format

Testing

# Run all tests
npm test

🤝 Contributing

Contributions are welcome! Please feel free to submit a Pull Request.

Fork the project
Create your feature branch (git checkout -b feature/AmazingFeature)
Commit your changes (git commit -m 'Add some AmazingFeature')
Push to the branch (git push origin feature/AmazingFeature)
Open a Pull Request

Development Guidelines

Write tests for new features
Follow TypeScript best practices
Use conventional commit messages
Update documentation as needed
Ensure cross-platform compatibility

📝 License

This project is licensed under the MIT License - see the LICENSE file for details.

🙏 Acknowledgments

Inspired by artiebits/fake-git-history
Built with modern TypeScript and Node.js best practices
Uses simple-git for Git operations
CLI powered by Commander.js

📞 Support

🐛 Report Issues
📖 Documentation

⚠️ Disclaimer: This tool is intended for educational purposes, testing, and personal projects. Please be mindful of your organization's policies regarding Git history manipulation.