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git-auto-fetch

Runs git fetch --all in the background every time the prompt appears inside a repo, throttled to once per GIT_AUTO_FETCH_INTERVAL (default 60s). Fetches are silent, non-interactive (SSH in BatchMode, no terminal prompts), and logged to .git/FETCH_LOG.

Pro tips​

  • This is what keeps the spaceship prompt honest — the ⇣/⇡ behind/ahead arrows only know about commits your local repo has fetched. With auto-fetch, an agent pushing to gitea.stump.rocks from another session shows up in your prompt within a minute, no manual git fetch needed.
  • Per-repo kill switch: run git-auto-fetch (the function, no args) inside a repo to toggle it — it drops a NO_AUTO_FETCH guard file in .git/. Worth doing in huge or slow-remote repos.
  • The --force-with-lease caveat: because fetches happen behind your back, your lease is always "fresh" — gpf can overwrite remote commits you never actually looked at. Solo on Gitea this rarely bites, but on shared GitHub branches, check glol before force-pushing.
  • Debugging a repo that feels stale? cat .git/FETCH_LOG — its mtime is the throttle timestamp, and fetch errors (dead remotes, auth failures) land there instead of your terminal.
  • It fetches all remotes, so repos with both a Gitea origin and a GitHub upstream (like the navidrome-ldap fork) stay current on both sides for free.