nikivdev/code · error

Not a git repository

Error message

Not a git repository

What it means

ensure_git_repo() runs a git command (e.g. `git rev-parse`) with stdout/stderr suppressed and checks the exit status. If git exits non-zero, the tool concludes the current directory is not inside a git repository and throws this error. It is a precondition guard before any commit-related operation.

Source

Thrown at src/commit.rs:6556

        issues,
        summary,
        future_tasks,
        timed_out: false,
        quality,
    })
}

fn ensure_git_repo() -> Result<()> {
    let _ = vcs::ensure_jj_repo()?;
    let output = Command::new("git")
        .args(["rev-parse", "--git-dir"])
        .stdout(Stdio::null())
        .stderr(Stdio::null())
        .status()
        .context("failed to run git")?;

    if !output.success() {
        bail!("Not a git repository");
    }
    Ok(())
}

fn git_root_or_cwd() -> std::path::PathBuf {
    match git_capture(&["rev-parse", "--show-toplevel"]) {
        Ok(root) => std::path::PathBuf::from(root.trim()),
        Err(_) => std::env::current_dir().unwrap_or_default(),
    }
}

fn warn_if_commit_invoked_from_subdir(repo_root: &Path) {
    let Ok(cwd) = std::env::current_dir() else {
        return;
    };
    let cwd_norm = cwd.canonicalize().unwrap_or(cwd.clone());
    let root_norm = repo_root
        .canonicalize()

View on GitHub (pinned to a747e741ae)

Solutions

1. cd into your project root (or a directory inside the git repo) and re-run
2. Run `git rev-parse --show-toplevel` yourself to confirm the repo is detectable
3. Run `git init` if the directory was never a repository
4. Check GIT_DIR/GIT_WORK_TREE env vars are not pointing elsewhere
5. Verify `git --version` works (git installed and on PATH)

Example fix

// before (shell)
f commit -m "msg"   # run in ~/projects/plain-dir
// after (shell)
cd ~/projects/my-repo && f commit -m "msg"

use std::process::Command;
fn in_git_repo() -> bool {
    Command::new("git")
        .args(["rev-parse", "--is-inside-work-tree"])
        .output()
        .map(|o| o.status.success()
            && String::from_utf8_lossy(&o.stdout).trim() == "true")
        .unwrap_or(false)
}
if !in_git_repo() { eprintln!("not a git repo; cd into your project first"); }

if let Err(e) = tool.commit(msg) {
    if e.to_string().contains("Not a git repository") {
        eprintln!("cd into your git repo root and retry: {}", e);
    } else { return Err(e.into()); }
}

When it happens

Trigger: Running any `f commit` subcommand (or open_latest_queue_review, etc.) from a directory where `git` cannot resolve a repository — outside a repo, in a bare/corrupted repo, or when the `git` binary itself fails.

Common situations: Running the tool in a non-git project directory, running from a subdirectory whose repo was deleted, GIT_DIR misconfiguration, a corrupted .git directory, or git not being on PATH producing a command-level failure surfaced as this error.

Related errors

• failed to resolve git repo root
• git repo root was empty
• not inside a git repository
• Not a git repository
• not inside a git repository

AI-assisted analysis of nikivdev/code@a747e741ae (2026-09-01). Data as JSON: /api/errors/72010a6fc2659aa2. Report an issue: GitHub.