git-patch

Non-interactive hunk staging for LLMs. Stage, unstage, and discard git changes by hunk or line — no interactive prompts required.

Every visual git tool (magit, lazygit, Fork) does hunk staging via git apply --cached, but there's no standalone CLI for it. LLMs can't drive git add -p (interactive), so they're stuck with all-or-nothing git add <file>. This tool bridges that gap.

Install

npm install -g git-patch

Or use directly with npx:

npx git-patch list

Usage

List hunks

git-patch list                    # Human-readable hunk list
git-patch list --summary          # One line per hunk (id + file/range + counts)
git-patch list --json             # Structured JSON output
git-patch list --json --summary   # Flat hunk summaries for scripts/LLMs
git-patch list --staged           # Show staged hunks
git-patch list -- src/main.rs     # Filter to specific files

Untracked files are included in unstaged output, so brand new files get hunk IDs without needing git add -N.

Each hunk gets a sequential ID. Change lines within each hunk are numbered too — these are what you use for line-level selection.

Stage hunks

git-patch stage 1                 # Stage hunk 1
git-patch stage 1,3,5             # Stage multiple hunks
git-patch stage 1-5               # Stage a range
git-patch stage 1:2-4             # Stage lines 2-4 of hunk 1
git-patch stage 1:3,5,8           # Stage specific lines of hunk 1
git-patch stage --all             # Stage everything
git-patch stage --matching "TODO" # Stage hunks matching a regex

This also works for untracked files directly; no intent-to-add prep step required.

Unstage hunks

Same selectors, operates on staged diff:

git-patch unstage 2               # Unstage hunk 2
git-patch unstage --all           # Unstage everything
git-patch unstage --matching "fn" # Unstage hunks matching regex

Discard changes

Removes changes from the working tree (destructive — requires --yes):

git-patch discard 3 --dry-run     # Preview what would be discarded
git-patch discard 3 --yes         # Actually discard hunk 3
git-patch discard --all --yes     # Discard all unstaged changes

Status

git-patch status                  # Summary of staged/unstaged/untracked
git-patch status --json           # JSON output

Selector syntax

| Selector | Meaning | |----------|---------| | 1 | Single hunk by ID | | 1,3,5 | Multiple hunk IDs | | 1-5 | Range of hunk IDs | | 1-3,7,9 | Mixed range and individual IDs | | 1:2-4 | Lines 2-4 within hunk 1 | | 1:3,5,8 | Specific lines within hunk 1 | | --all | Everything | | --matching "regex" | Hunks where any change line matches |

Line indices are 1-based and count only change lines (+/-), not context lines. This matches what you see in git-patch list output.

LLM workflow

# 1. See what changed
git-patch list --json

# 2. Stage related changes together
git-patch stage 1,3        # These two hunks are related
git commit -m "feat: add validation"

# 3. Stage the rest
git-patch stage --all
git commit -m "refactor: clean up helpers"

How it works

Under the hood, git-patch:

1. Parses git diff output into structured hunks
2. Reconstructs valid unified diff patches for your selection
3. Pipes them to git apply --cached (stage), git apply --cached --reverse (unstage), or git apply --reverse (discard)

Zero dependencies — Node.js builtins only. Requires Node 22+.

License

MIT