gitSpecOps

Small local special Git operations tools.

• GitHub Organization Duplicator
  • Copying whole GitHub organizations to disk or into another GitHub organization.
• Archive Updater
  • Keeping local folders full of cloned repositories refreshed in a controlled way.

The repo is intentionally plain. There is no package CLI, no hidden service, and no database. The tools are regular Python scripts launched through small generated .bat or .sh files.

Quick Start

Install uv, git, and GitHub CLI (gh). Authenticate GitHub CLI if you plan to use the org duplicator:

gh auth login

From the repo root, generate the local launchers:

.\run_setup.bat

On Windows this writes:

• gitArchiveUpdater\update-archive.bat
• gitArchiveUpdater\manage-archives.bat
• github-org-duplicator\duplicate-github-org.bat

Setup detects the current operating system and writes only that system's launcher type. Running setup again simply overwrites those expected launchers.

What Is Here

There are three working Python tool files:

• gitArchiveUpdater\archive_updater.py: scans archive folders and optionally fast-forward pulls eligible repos.
• gitArchiveUpdater\archive_manager.py: installs archive-local update launchers, tracks managed archives, refreshes all managed archives, and manages the optional scheduled refresh.
• github-org-duplicator\github_org_duplicator.py: walks a user through copying repositories between GitHub orgs and local folders.

Supporting files:

• setup_gitspecops.py: writes the launcher scripts.
• run_setup.bat, run_setup.ps1, run_setup.sh: convenient setup entry points.
• _legacy_sources\: older source snapshots kept only for reference.

Archive Updater

The archive updater is the low-level repo refresh tool. Give it one or more archive roots. Each archive root should be a folder whose direct children are Git repositories.

Example:

.\gitArchiveUpdater\update-archive.bat --root T:\Github\Archive-Public --default-output-dir

Under the hood, archive_updater.py inspects each direct child folder and only marks it updateable when all of these are true:

• the child is a Git work tree rooted at that folder
• it has an origin remote
• the remote starts with an approved prefix, defaulting to https://github.com/
• the work tree is clean
• the index is clean

Repos that fail any check are skipped and explained in the console output and JSON report.

When updating, it runs:

git fetch --dry-run origin
git pull --ff-only

It does not merge, rebase, reset, force-push, install dependencies, run project code, or recurse into nested folders. Git commands time out after 45 seconds by default; use --git-timeout to change that.

Reports are written only when an output directory is provided. Archive-local launchers installed by the manager write reports here:

ARCHIVE_ROOT\.gitSpecOps\archive-updates\archive-update-YYYYMMDD-HHMMSS.json

Reports include the root, eligible repos, skipped repos, update results, elapsed time, and Git timeout setting.

Archive Manager

The archive manager is the friendly front door for archive folders.

Run it with:

.\gitArchiveUpdater\manage-archives.bat

The dashboard shows known archive folders, install time, repo count at install, launcher status, last refresh result, elapsed time, and latest report.

Main actions:

• install or refresh an archive-local update_archive.bat
• scan all managed archives without pulling
• update all managed archives
• show detailed status
• write a refresh-all script
• create, inspect, or remove the monthly Windows scheduled refresh

When you install an archive, the manager:

1. accepts an archive folder path
2. verifies the folder exists and is not itself a Git repo
3. scans direct child folders with progress output
4. writes update_archive.bat into that archive folder
5. stores the archive in gitArchiveUpdater\managed_archives.json

The archive-local launcher pins the target archive root and writes that archive's reports into the archive itself:

ARCHIVE_ROOT\update_archive.bat
ARCHIVE_ROOT\.gitSpecOps\archive-updates\

The manager registry stays local to this repo:

gitArchiveUpdater\managed_archives.json

Manager logs live here:

gitArchiveUpdater\runs\archive-manager.log

Refresh-all runs call archive_updater.py once per managed archive, then update the registry with the last run time, result, elapsed time, and latest report path.

Scheduling

On Windows, the manager can write gitArchiveUpdater\refresh-managed-archives.bat and register it with Task Scheduler. The default task name is:

gitSpecOps Archive Refresh

Useful direct commands:

uv run python gitArchiveUpdater\archive_manager.py --write-refresh-all-script
uv run python gitArchiveUpdater\archive_manager.py --install-monthly-task --task-day 1 --task-time 09:00
uv run python gitArchiveUpdater\archive_manager.py --task-status
uv run python gitArchiveUpdater\archive_manager.py --remove-task

Task creation and removal are explicit. The manager does not silently install background jobs.

GitHub Organization Duplicator

Run it with:

.\github-org-duplicator\duplicate-github-org.bat

The duplicator is interactive. It checks for git, gh, GitHub authentication, and Git credential setup before doing work.

Modes:

• Remote to Local: clone every repo in a GitHub org to a local folder.
• Local to Remote: scan a local folder for Git repos and push them into a GitHub org.
• Remote to Remote: copy repos from one GitHub org to another.

The tool lists what it finds, warns about Git LFS, checks for existing repositories, and asks for a typed YES before it starts moving data.

Run files are kept here:

github-org-duplicator\runs\

Those files include completed-repo trackers, success logs, error logs, and operation session files. If a run is interrupted, rerun the same operation and completed repos are skipped.

The duplicator is meant for whole-org copies into clean destinations. If it finds name conflicts that are not verified duplicates, it stops instead of trying to reconcile unrelated repositories.

Runtime Files

These are generated locally and ignored by Git:

• .venv\
• *.egg-info\
• uv.lock
• gitArchiveUpdater\managed_archives.json
• gitArchiveUpdater\runs\
• gitArchiveUpdater\refresh-managed-archives.bat
• github-org-duplicator\runs\

The ignored state is useful on one machine but should not be shared as repo source.

Safety Model

Archive updates are deliberately conservative: direct child folders only, approved remotes only, clean repos only, command timeouts, and fast-forward pulls only.

The GitHub org duplicator can create repositories and push refs, so it stays interactive and confirmation-driven. It uses GitHub CLI credentials instead of storing tokens itself.

When in doubt, scan first:

uv run python gitArchiveUpdater\archive_manager.py --refresh-all --scan-only