From: Omri Sarig via GitGitGadget Date: Mon, 02 Mar 2026 19:31:47 GMT Subject: [PATCH] doc: add information regarding external commands Message-ID: From: Omri Sarig Git supports running external commands in the user's PATH as if they were built-in commands (see execv_dashed_external in git.c). This feature was not documented in any of Git's user-facing documentation. This commit adds a short documentation of this feature, making it easier for users to discover and use. Signed-off-by: Omri Sarig --- doc: Add information regarding external commands Published-As: https://github.com/gitgitgadget/git/releases/tag/pr-git-2220%2Fomrisarig13%2Fexternal-commands-documentation-v1 Fetch-It-Via: git fetch https://github.com/gitgitgadget/git pr-git-2220/omrisarig13/external-commands-documentation-v1 Pull-Request: https://github.com/git/git/pull/2220 Documentation/git.adoc | 18 ++++++++++++++++++ 1 file changed, 18 insertions(+) diff --git a/Documentation/git.adoc b/Documentation/git.adoc index ce099e78b8..da7c1329da 100644 --- a/Documentation/git.adoc +++ b/Documentation/git.adoc @@ -345,6 +345,24 @@ users typically do not use them directly. include::{build_dir}/cmds-purehelpers.adoc[] +External commands +----------------- + +In addition to the commands implemented by Git, Git will execute any executable +with the prefix "git-" in the user path as if it is a Git command. + +All parameters of the invocation are passed to the script, making running "git +foo arg1 arg2" equivalent to running "git-foo arg1 arg2". When running "git +help" with the command name, Git will invoke the man page for the given +command, making running "git help foo" equivalent to running "man git-foo". + +This makes it possible to extend Git with custom commands, without the need to +change its source code. + +Git looks for external commands after looking for built-in commands, but before +looking for aliases. Therefore, if an external command have the same name as an +alias, it'll run instead of the alias. + Guides ------ base-commit: 2cc71917514657b93014134350864f4849edfc83 -- gitgitgadget