gitbrief

Instant weekly git digest for developers.

Turn your local git history into a clean Markdown summary or a beautiful, shareable HTML page — in seconds, with zero configuration.

$ npx gitbrief --repos ~/projects

# Weekly Dev Digest
*May 1 – 7, 2026 · 3 repos · 11 commits*

---

## 📁 my-blog  ·  3 commits

**Thu, May 7**
- `b4a796e` Update hero section copy

**Wed, May 6**
- `34dfe86` Add dark mode toggle
- `5276346` Fixed responsive layout on mobile

---

## 📁 api-server  ·  2 commits

**Tue, May 5**
- `6445b01` Implement rate limiting middleware
...

Why

Writing your weekly standup or status update by hand wastes 10-15 minutes and usually undersells your work. gitbrief reads your git history and formats it instantly — paste it into Slack, email, or your team's wiki.

The --format html flag produces a self-contained HTML file you can print to PDF, open in a browser, or attach to an email.

Install

One-off (no install needed):

npx gitbrief --repos ~/projects

Permanent global install:

npm install -g gitbrief
gitbrief --repos ~/projects

Usage

gitbrief [options]

Options:
  --since <spec>     Time range for git log   (default: "7 days ago")
                     Examples: "1 week ago", "2 weeks ago", "2026-04-30"
  --repos <path>     Directory to scan         (default: current dir)
  --depth <n>        Max subdirectory depth    (default: 2)
  --author <email>   Filter by author          (default: your git email)
  --all-authors      Include all authors
  --format <fmt>     markdown (default) or html
  --output <file>    Write to file instead of stdout
  --merges           Include merge commits     (excluded by default)
  --help             Show help

Common recipes

# All repos in your projects folder, last 7 days
gitbrief --repos ~/projects

# Generate a beautiful HTML digest, open it in the browser
gitbrief --repos ~/projects --format html --output digest.html
open digest.html

# Just yesterday (for a quick standup)
gitbrief --repos ~/projects --since "1 day ago"

# Last two weeks, include all team members
gitbrief --repos ~/projects --since "2 weeks ago" --all-authors

# Single repo, copy to clipboard (macOS)
gitbrief | pbcopy

How it works

1. Walks the given directory (up to --depth levels deep) looking for .git folders
2. Runs git log in each repo, filtering by author and date range
3. Groups commits by repo and by day, sorted newest-first
4. Renders Markdown to stdout, or a self-contained HTML file

No external dependencies. Requires only Node.js ≥ 16 and git.

If a repo has a GitHub/GitLab remote, commit hashes in the HTML output become clickable links.

Output formats

Markdown (default)

Ready to paste into Slack, Notion, Confluence, Linear, or any Markdown editor.

HTML (--format html)

A self-contained, responsive HTML page. Useful for:

• Printing to PDF (File → Print → Save as PDF)
• Attaching to emails
• Hosting as a static page (GitHub Pages, Vercel, etc.)
• Sharing with non-technical stakeholders

The HTML adapts to light and dark mode automatically.

Requirements

• Node.js ≥ 16
• git

License

MIT © Anish Punati