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Jujutsu (jj) Crash Course

Jujutsu (jj) is a next-generation version control system that modernizes the way we interact with code history. JJHub is built natively to support jj’s unique features, such as first-class conflicts, stable change IDs, and automatic committing. This crash course covers the essential commands you’ll need to use jj effectively.

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1. Initializing and Cloning

To create a new repository: 
jj git init my-project
cd my-project
To clone an existing JJHub repository: 
jjhub repo clone owner/repo
# or
jj git clone https://jjhub.tech/owner/repo

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2. No More git add or git commit

In jj, the working directory is automatically tracked as a change. As soon as you modify files, jj updates the current change automatically. There is no staging area (git add) and no need to constantly git commit. To view your current changes: 
jj status
When you are ready to “commit”, you simply provide a description for the current change: 
jj describe -m "Add new feature"

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3. Creating a New Change

To start working on something else, you create a new change. This leaves your previous change behind and starts a fresh one on top of it: 
jj new
If you want to start a new change off of main, instead of your current change: 
jj new main

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4. Bookmarks (Branches)

In jj, what Git calls branches are called bookmarks. They are essentially pointers to specific changes. To create a bookmark at your current change: 
jj bookmark create my-feature
To move the main bookmark to your current change: 
jj bookmark set main -r @
(Note: @ is a special symbol in jj that refers to the working copy’s change.)

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5. Reviewing Log History

jj has a beautiful and intuitive log view: 
jj log
This displays a graph of your changes, along with their stable Change IDs (like qzknlmop) and commit hashes.

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6. Pushing Changes

To push your changes to JJHub, you use the git push command bridged by jj: 
jj git push --all
# or push a specific bookmark
jj git push --bookmark main

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Next Steps

Now that you know the basics, learn how jj commands translate from Git in our Git to jj Cheat Sheet.