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rit init

Initialize a new Rit repository.

Synopsis​

rit init [path]

Description​

This command creates a new .rit directory with the necessary subdirectories and files to begin tracking changes.

What Gets Created​

.rit/
├── HEAD            # Points to current branch
├── objects/        # Object database (empty)
└── refs/
    ├── heads/      # Branch references (empty)
    └── tags/       # Tag references (empty)

The HEAD file initially contains:

ref: refs/heads/main

This means "the current branch is main" - even though no commits exist yet.

Examples​

# Initialize in current directory
$ rit init
Initialized empty rit repository in .rit/

# Initialize in a specific directory
$ rit init /path/to/project
Initialized empty rit repository in /path/to/project/.rit/

# Re-running init is safe
$ rit init
Reinitialized existing rit repository in .rit/

Implementation Details​

pub fn init(path: &Path) -> Result<Repository> {
    let rit_dir = path.join(".rit");

    if rit_dir.exists() {
        println!("Reinitialized existing rit repository");
    } else {
        fs::create_dir(&rit_dir)?;
        fs::create_dir(rit_dir.join("objects"))?;
        fs::create_dir(rit_dir.join("refs"))?;
        fs::create_dir(rit_dir.join("refs/heads"))?;
        fs::create_dir(rit_dir.join("refs/tags"))?;
        fs::write(rit_dir.join("HEAD"), "ref: refs/heads/main\n")?;
        println!("Initialized empty rit repository");
    }

    Ok(Repository { root: path, rit_dir })
}

See Also​