Pitmaster

Pitmaster is a pure PHP library that reads and writes Git repositories natively. Core repository operations do not shell out to the git binary or use FFI. The Git object model, pack file format, index format, and smart HTTP transport are implemented in PHP.

Why Pitmaster exists

PHP applications that interact with Git repositories typically shell out to the git binary. This works, but it creates a hard dependency on git being installed, introduces security concerns around exec() and proc_open(), and makes the application harder to deploy in restricted environments (containers without git, shared hosting, serverless functions).

Pitmaster eliminates the git dependency entirely. Your PHP application can read commit history, create commits, compute diffs, check status, and push to remotes using only PHP's built-in functions.

What it does

• Reads and writes loose objects (blob, tree, commit, tag)
• Reads pack files and resolves delta chains (OFS_DELTA and REF_DELTA)
• Writes pack files for network operations
• Reads and writes the index/staging area (v2, v3, v4 formats)
• Reads and writes refs (branches, tags, HEAD, packed-refs, reftable)
• Computes diffs (Myers, Patience, Histogram, and Minimal algorithms)
• Performs three-way merges with conflict detection
• Walks commit graphs (log, ancestry, merge base)
• Speaks the Git smart HTTP protocol (clone, fetch, push)
• Supports worktrees, submodules, stash, hooks, and Git LFS

What it requires

• PHP 8.2 or later
• zlib extension (built-in on virtually all PHP installs)
• mbstring extension (for UTF-8 path handling)
• json extension

Core repository operations do not require the git binary. Optional features may need extra runtime capabilities: hook execution uses proc_open(), and SSH transport requires ext-ssh2.

Quick example

use Pitmaster\Pitmaster;

$repo = Pitmaster::open('/path/to/project');

// Read the current HEAD commit
$head = $repo->head();
echo $head->message;

// List branches
foreach ($repo->branches() as $branch) {
    echo $branch . "\n";
}

// Check status
foreach ($repo->status() as $entry) {
    echo "{$entry->path}: {$entry->index->value}{$entry->worktree->value}\n";
}

// Create a commit
$repo->add('src/Feature.php');
$commitId = $repo->commit('Add new feature');

Start with Getting Started, then use API, CLI, and Operations for the rest of the surface area.