Working with Jujutsu (jj)

Quick reference for common Jujutsu operations used in development workflows.

Jujutsu is a Git-compatible VCS that eliminates staging and treats your working directory as an actual commit that continuously updates.

Detecting Jujutsu

Check if the project uses jj:

test -d .jj && echo "jj" || echo "not jj"

Key Concepts

• @ - Your current working copy (like Git's HEAD)
• @- - Parent of working copy (like Git's HEAD~1)
• No staging area - Changes are automatically recorded
• Change IDs - Stable identifiers that survive rebases
• Commit IDs - Traditional hashes compatible with Git

Recommended Workflow

The jj way:

1. Make edits to files
2. Run jj new to create a new commit (repeat for every logical change)
3. After a series of commits, go back and review with jj log
4. Add meaningful descriptions with jj describe <change-id> -m "description"
5. Squash related commits together with jj squash

This workflow creates fine-grained history as you work, then lets you organize it meaningfully afterward.

Viewing the Log

Show recent commits:

jj log -r @~10..@

Show full log:

jj log

Show specific commit:

jj show <change-id>

Show log with more detail:

jj log --stat

Viewing Diffs

See current changes:

jj diff

Diff specific commit:

jj diff -r <change-id>

Diff between two commits:

jj diff --from <base> --to <head>

Git-style diff output:

jj diff --git

Show what changed in a commit:

jj show <change-id>

Getting Commit References

Current commit ID:

jj log -r @ -T commit_id --no-graph

Parent commit ID:

jj log -r @- -T commit_id --no-graph

Get change ID:

jj log -r @ -T change_id --no-graph

Revset references:

• @ - working copy commit
• @- - parent commit
• @-- - grandparent commit
• root() - the root commit
• trunk() - main branch tip

Making Commits

Create new commit (after editing files):

jj new

Create new commit with message:

jj new -m "commit message"

Commit current changes with description:

jj describe -m "commit message"
jj new

Note: Unlike Git, jj automatically tracks file changes. No add command needed!

Setting Descriptions

Set description for current commit:

jj describe -m "new description"

Set description in editor:

jj describe

Set description for specific commit:

jj describe <change-id> -m "description"

Organizing Commits

Squash current commit into parent:

jj squash

Squash specific commit into its parent:

jj squash -r <change-id>

Squash current commit into a specific commit:

jj squash --into <target-change-id>

Move changes from one commit to another:

jj move --from <source> --to <target>

Edit an earlier commit:

jj edit <change-id>

(Make changes, then jj new to continue)

Split a commit into multiple:

jj split <change-id>

Status Information

See current status:

jj status

See bookmark (branch) info:

jj bookmark list

Common Patterns

Get range for code review:

BASE_SHA=$(jj log -r @- -T commit_id --no-graph)
HEAD_SHA=$(jj log -r @ -T commit_id --no-graph)
echo "Reviewing: $BASE_SHA..$HEAD_SHA"

Compare against trunk:

jj diff --from trunk() --to @

See files changed:

jj diff --summary

Git Interoperability

Fetch from Git remote:

jj git fetch

Push to Git remote:

jj git push

Export to colocated Git repo:

jj git export

Workflow Comparison

Why Jujutsu?

• No staging area confusion - Edit files, they're tracked
• No detached HEAD - All commits are reachable
• Conflict tracking - Conflicts are first-class objects
• Safe experimentation - Easy to undo anything
• Git compatible - Works with GitHub, GitLab, etc.