consult-local-history

Introduction

This package is based on antham's helm-backup, and uses his git-backup library.

consult-local-history provides a similar interface to helm-backup to manage a local file history using a git repository, but using consult and embark as the front end.

consult-local-history can be downloaded here.

Requirements

The package requires git, git-backup, consult and embark.

Features

Every time a file is saved, it is automatically committed to the local history repository.
To add a more descriptive commit message for certain states, save manually using consult-local-history-named-save-file
Use consult-local-history to view the available backups for the current buffer file. It will show the date, commit message and a preview of the changes introduced with each backup.
Use embark actions from within consult-local-history. There are three supported actions:
1. <RET>: default, opens the selected backup in a new buffer.
2. "e": ediff between the selected backup and the current buffer.
3. "r": revert current buffer to the state of the selected backup.
Use consult-local-history-delete-file to remove a file from the local history repository.

Installation

Using straight.el:

;; required
(use-package git-backup
  :straight t
)

(use-package consult-local-history
  :straight (consult-local-history
             :host github
             :repo "dawsers/consult-local-history"
  )
)

Customization

There are several variables that can be customized. Their default value between ():

consult-local-history-path ("~/.emacs-backups/consult-local-history"): Storage path for local history repository.
consult-local-history-git-binary ("git"): git binary to use.
consult-local-history-list-format ("%cd, %ar"): Format for the backup time displayed.
consult-local-history-excluded-entries (nil): List of file/folder regexp to exclude from local history.

You can also customize the faces used by consult-local-history to display the backup's date and commit comment:

consult-local-history-date (font-lock-constant-face)
consult-local-history-comment (font-lock-comment-face)

Commands

consult-local-history: View and manage the available backups in the local history repository for the current buffer file. As described above, there are three possible actions for the selected candidate, using embark.
1. <RET>: default, opens the selected backup in a new buffer.
2. "e": ediff between the selected backup and the current buffer.
3. "r": revert current buffer to the state of the selected backup.
The preview buffer shows the changes introduced with the currently selected backup.
consult-local-history-delete-file: Removes a file from the local history repository.
consult-local-history-named-save-file: Saves the current buffer and adds a custom commit message for the local history backup. Use it for important saves.

Key Bindings

None for the interactive commands, so you can select your own. The embark actions have a map with the bindings described above.