Git Notes

Overview

Git notes attach metadata to commits (or any Git object) without modifying the objects themselves. Notes are stored separately and displayed alongside commit messages.

Core principle: Add information to commits after creation without rewriting history.

Core Concepts

Concept	Description
Notes ref	Storage location, default refs/notes/commits
Non-invasive	Notes never modify SHA of original object
Namespaces	Use --ref for different note categories
Display	Notes appear in git log and git show output

Quick Reference

Task	Command
Add note	git notes add -m "message" <sha>
View note	git notes show <sha>
Append	git notes append -m "message" <sha>
Edit	git notes edit <sha>
Remove	git notes remove <sha>
Use namespace	git notes --ref=<name> <command>
Push notes	git push origin refs/notes/<name>
Fetch notes	git fetch origin refs/notes/<name>:refs/notes/<name>
Show in log	git log --notes=<name>

For complete command reference, see references/commands.md.

Essential Patterns

Code Review Tracking

# Mark reviewed
git notes --ref=reviews add -m "Reviewed-by: Alice <alice@example.com>" abc1234

# View review status
git log --notes=reviews --oneline

Sharing Notes

# Push to remote
git push origin refs/notes/reviews

# Fetch from remote
git fetch origin refs/notes/reviews:refs/notes/reviews

Preserving Through Rebase

git config notes.rewrite.rebase true
git config notes.rewriteMode concatenate

Common Mistakes

Mistake	Fix
Notes not showing in log	Specify ref: git log --notes=reviews or configure notes.displayRef
Notes lost after rebase	Enable: git config notes.rewrite.rebase true
Notes not on remote	Push explicitly: git push origin refs/notes/commits
"Note already exists" error	Use -f to overwrite or append to add

Best Practices

Practice	Rationale
Use namespaces	Separate notes by purpose (reviews, testing, audit)
Be explicit about refs	Always specify --ref for non-default notes
Push notes explicitly	Document sharing procedures in team guidelines
Use append over add -f	Preserve note history when accumulating
Configure rewrite preservation	Run git config notes.rewrite.rebase true before rebasing

Git Notes Command Reference

Complete reference for all git notes commands and options.

Basic Operations

Add a Note

# Add note to current HEAD
git notes add -m "Reviewed by Alice"

# Add note to specific commit
git notes add -m "Tested on Linux" abc1234

# Add note from file
git notes add -F review-comments.txt abc1234

# Add note interactively (opens editor)
git notes add abc1234

# Overwrite existing note
git notes add -f -m "Updated review status" abc1234

# Add empty note
git notes add --allow-empty abc1234

View Notes

# Show note for HEAD
git notes show

# Show note for specific commit
git notes show abc1234

# View commit with notes in log
git log --show-notes
git show abc1234

# List all notes
git notes list

# List note for specific object
git notes list abc1234

Example output with notes:

commit abc1234def567890
Author: Developer <dev@example.com>
Date:   Mon Jan 15 10:00:00 2024 +0000

    feat: implement user authentication

Notes:
    Reviewed by Alice
    Tested-by: CI Bot <ci@example.com>

Append to Notes

# Append to existing note (creates if doesn't exist)
git notes append -m "Additional review comment" abc1234

# Append from file
git notes append -F more-comments.txt abc1234

# Append multiple messages
git notes append -m "Comment 1" -m "Comment 2" abc1234

Edit Notes

# Edit note interactively (opens editor)
git notes edit abc1234

# Edit note for HEAD
git notes edit

Remove Notes

# Remove note from HEAD
git notes remove

# Remove note from specific commit
git notes remove abc1234

# Remove notes from multiple commits
git notes remove abc1234 def5678 ghi9012

# Ignore missing notes (no error if note doesn't exist)
git notes remove --ignore-missing abc1234

# Remove notes via stdin (bulk removal)
echo "abc1234" | git notes remove --stdin

Copy Notes

# Copy note from one commit to another
git notes copy abc1234 def5678

# Copy note to HEAD
git notes copy abc1234

# Force overwrite destination note
git notes copy -f abc1234 def5678

# Bulk copy via stdin (useful with rebase/cherry-pick)
echo "abc1234 def5678" | git notes copy --stdin

Prune Notes

# Remove notes for objects that no longer exist
git notes prune

# Dry-run to see what would be pruned
git notes prune -n

# Verbose output
git notes prune -v

Get Notes Reference

# Show current notes ref being used
git notes get-ref

Using Multiple Namespaces

Notes can be organized into separate namespaces (refs) for different purposes.

Specify Notes Ref

# Add note to specific namespace
git notes --ref=refs/notes/reviews add -m "Approved" abc1234

# Shorthand (refs/notes/ prefix is assumed)
git notes --ref=reviews add -m "Approved" abc1234

# View notes from specific namespace
git notes --ref=reviews show abc1234

# List notes in namespace
git notes --ref=reviews list

Environment Variable

# Set default notes ref for session
export GIT_NOTES_REF=refs/notes/reviews
git notes add -m "Approved"

# View notes from environment ref
git notes show abc1234

Display Multiple Namespaces

# Show specific notes namespace in log
git log --notes=reviews

# Show multiple namespaces
git log --notes=reviews --notes=testing

# Show all notes
git log --notes='*'

# Disable notes display
git log --no-notes

Merging Notes

When notes exist in multiple refs or from different sources, they can be merged.

Merge Notes Refs

# Merge notes from another ref into current
git notes merge refs/notes/other

# Merge with strategy
git notes merge -s union refs/notes/other
git notes merge -s ours refs/notes/other
git notes merge -s theirs refs/notes/other
git notes merge -s cat_sort_uniq refs/notes/other

# Quiet merge
git notes merge -q refs/notes/other

# Verbose merge
git notes merge -v refs/notes/other

Merge Strategies

Strategy	Behavior
manual	Interactive conflict resolution (default)
ours	Keep local note on conflict
theirs	Keep remote note on conflict
union	Concatenate both notes
cat_sort_uniq	Concatenate, sort lines, remove duplicates

Resolve Merge Conflicts

# After merge conflict with manual strategy
# Resolve conflicts in .git/NOTES_MERGE_WORKTREE/

# Commit resolved merge
git notes merge --commit

# Abort merge
git notes merge --abort

Configuration Options

Git Config

# Set default notes ref
git config notes.displayRef refs/notes/reviews

# Display multiple notes refs
git config --add notes.displayRef refs/notes/testing

# Set merge strategy for notes
git config notes.mergeStrategy union

# Set merge strategy for specific namespace
git config notes.reviews.mergeStrategy theirs

# Preserve notes during rebase
git config notes.rewrite.rebase true

# Preserve notes during amend
git config notes.rewrite.amend true

# Set rewrite mode
git config notes.rewriteMode concatenate

Sample .gitconfig

[notes]
    displayRef = refs/notes/reviews
    displayRef = refs/notes/testing
    mergeStrategy = union

[notes "reviews"]
    mergeStrategy = theirs

[notes.rewrite]
    rebase = true
    amend = true

Workflow Examples

Code Review Tracking

# Mark commit as reviewed
git notes --ref=reviews add -m "Reviewed-by: Alice <alice@example.com>" abc1234

# Add review comments
git notes --ref=reviews append -m "Consider extracting helper function" abc1234

# View review status
git log --notes=reviews --oneline

# Mark as approved
git notes --ref=reviews add -f -m "APPROVED by Alice" abc1234

Test Results Annotation

# Record test pass
git notes --ref=testing add -m "Tests passed: 2024-01-15
Platform: Linux x64
Coverage: 85%" abc1234

# Record test failure
git notes --ref=testing add -m "FAILED: Integration tests
See: https://ci.example.com/build/123" def5678

# View test status across commits
git log --notes=testing --oneline

Audit Trail

# Add audit note
git notes --ref=audit add -m "Security review: PASSED
Reviewer: Security Team
Date: 2024-01-15
Ticket: SEC-456" abc1234

# Query audit status
git log --notes=audit --grep="Security review"

Sharing Notes

# Push notes to remote
git push origin refs/notes/reviews

# Fetch notes from remote
git fetch origin refs/notes/reviews:refs/notes/reviews

# Push all notes refs
git push origin 'refs/notes/*'

# Fetch all notes refs
git fetch origin 'refs/notes/*:refs/notes/*'

Bulk Operations

# Add notes to all commits by author in date range
git log --format="%H" --author="Alice" --since="2024-01-01" | \
  while read sha; do
    git notes add -m "Author verified" "$sha"
  done

# Remove notes from range of commits
git log --format="%H" HEAD~10..HEAD | xargs git notes remove --ignore-missing