History Commands

Commands for viewing commit history, comparing versions, and understanding how your project evolved.

Command	Description	Usage
log	Show commit history	dits log [options]
show	Show commit details	dits show <commit>
diff	Show differences between commits	dits diff [commit] [commit]
blame	Show who changed what	dits blame <file>
reflog	Show reference history	dits reflog
bisect	Binary search for bugs	dits bisect <command>

dits log

Display the commit history of the repository. Supports various filtering and formatting options to help you understand how your project evolved over time.

Synopsis

dits log [options] [revision range] [-- path...]

Options

--oneline        One line per commit
--graph          Show branch graph
--all            Show all branches
--stat           Show file change statistics
--name-only      Show only file names
--name-status    Show file names with status
--since, --after Filter by date
--until, --before
--author         Filter by author
--grep           Filter by commit message
-n, --max-count  Limit number of commits
--follow         Follow file renames

Examples

# Basic log
$ dits log
commit a1b2c3d4 (HEAD -> main, origin/main)
Author: Jane Editor <jane@example.com>
Date:   Mon Jan 15 10:30:00 2024 -0800

    Add color grading to scene 1

commit 9f8e7d6c
Author: John Editor <john@example.com>
Date:   Sun Jan 14 16:45:00 2024 -0800

    Initial footage import

# One-line format
$ dits log --oneline
a1b2c3d (HEAD -> main) Add color grading to scene 1
9f8e7d6 Initial footage import
5c4b3a2 Initialize project

# With graph
$ dits log --graph --oneline --all
* a1b2c3d (HEAD -> main) Add color grading to scene 1
| * f5e4d3c (feature/audio) Add sound effects
|/
* 9f8e7d6 Initial footage import

# Filter by date
$ dits log --since="2024-01-01" --until="2024-01-31"

# Filter by author
$ dits log --author="Jane"

# Show history of specific file
$ dits log --follow footage/scene1.mov

# Show with file stats
$ dits log --stat
commit a1b2c3d
    Add color grading to scene 1

 footage/scene1.mov | 10.2 GB → 10.2 GB (1.5% changed)
 1 file changed

dits show

Show details of a specific commit or object. Displays the commit message, author, and changed files with chunk-level statistics.

Synopsis

dits show [options] &lt;object&gt;...

Options

--stat           Show file statistics
--name-only      Show only changed file names
--name-status    Show file names with change type
--format         Custom output format
--no-patch       Don't show diff

Examples

# Show commit details
$ dits show a1b2c3d
commit a1b2c3d4
Author: Jane Editor <jane@example.com>
Date:   Mon Jan 15 10:30:00 2024 -0800

    Add color grading to scene 1

Changed files:
 M footage/scene1.mov
   Chunks: 10,234 total, 156 changed (1.5%)
   Size: 10.2 GB (unchanged)

# Show specific file at commit
$ dits show a1b2c3d:footage/scene1.mov > old_scene1.mov

# Show only names
$ dits show --name-only a1b2c3d
footage/scene1.mov

# Show with status
$ dits show --name-status a1b2c3d
M    footage/scene1.mov

# Show a tag
$ dits show v1.0

dits diff

Show differences between commits, staging area, and working directory. For video files, Dits provides chunk-level diff showing which segments changed.

Synopsis

dits diff [options] [<commit>] [<commit>] [-- <path>...]

Options

--staged         Compare staging area to HEAD
--cached         Same as --staged
--stat           Show statistics only
--name-only      Show only file names
--name-status    Show file names with status
--video-aware    Show video-specific diff info
--summary        Show summary of changes

Examples

# Working directory vs staging
$ dits diff
Changes not staged for commit:
 M footage/scene1.mov
   Chunks: 156 modified of 10,234 (1.5%)

# Staging area vs HEAD
$ dits diff --staged
Changes to be committed:
 A footage/scene4.mov
   Size: 8.5 GB, 8,456 chunks

# Between two commits
$ dits diff a1b2c3d 9f8e7d6
Changed: footage/scene1.mov
  Before: 10,078 chunks (10.0 GB)
  After:  10,234 chunks (10.2 GB)
  Chunks modified: 156

# Specific file
$ dits diff HEAD~2 HEAD -- footage/scene1.mov

# Video-aware diff
$ dits diff --video-aware a1b2c3d HEAD -- scene1.mov
footage/scene1.mov:
  Duration: 5:00.00 (unchanged)
  Changed segments:
    00:45.00 - 01:12.00 (27 seconds)
    03:22.00 - 03:45.00 (23 seconds)
  Frames affected: ~1,500 of ~9,000 (16.7%)

dits blame

Show who last modified each part of a file. For binary files like video, blame shows chunk-level attribution with offset and size.

Synopsis

dits blame [options] &lt;file&gt;

Options

-L <range>       Only show specified lines/chunks
--since          Ignore changes before date
--root           Show root revision
-e               Show author email instead of name

Examples

# Blame for text file
$ dits blame project.prproj
a1b2c3d4 (Jane Editor 2024-01-15) line 1: <?xml version="1.0"?>
a1b2c3d4 (Jane Editor 2024-01-15) line 2: <Project>
9f8e7d6c (John Editor 2024-01-14) line 3:   <Sequence id="1">
...

# Blame for binary file (shows chunk info)
$ dits blame footage/scene1.mov
Chunk-level blame for footage/scene1.mov:

Offset      Size      Commit   Author          Date
0           1.0 MB    9f8e7d6  John Editor     2024-01-14
1.0 MB      1.2 MB    9f8e7d6  John Editor     2024-01-14
2.2 MB      980 KB    a1b2c3d  Jane Editor     2024-01-15  ← modified
3.2 MB      1.1 MB    9f8e7d6  John Editor     2024-01-14
...

dits reflog

Show a log of all reference updates. Essential for recovery - shows every movement of HEAD including resets, checkouts, and rebases.

Synopsis

dits reflog [options] [ref]

Examples

# Show reflog for HEAD
$ dits reflog
a1b2c3d HEAD@{0}: commit: Add color grading to scene 1
9f8e7d6 HEAD@{1}: commit: Initial footage import
5c4b3a2 HEAD@{2}: clone: from https://example.com/project
...

# Show reflog for specific branch
$ dits reflog main

# Recover from accidental reset
$ dits reflog
a1b2c3d HEAD@{0}: reset: moving to HEAD~3
f5e4d3c HEAD@{1}: commit: Important work
...
$ dits reset --hard HEAD@{1}
HEAD is now at f5e4d3c Important work

dits bisect

Use binary search to find the commit that introduced a bug or change. Efficiently narrows down the problematic commit by testing midpoints.

Synopsis

dits bisect start
dits bisect good <commit>
dits bisect bad <commit>
dits bisect reset

Examples

# Start bisecting
$ dits bisect start
$ dits bisect bad HEAD
$ dits bisect good v1.0

Bisecting: 10 revisions left to test
[a1b2c3d] Add color grading

# Test this version, then mark it
$ dits bisect good
Bisecting: 5 revisions left to test
[b2c3d4e] Update audio

$ dits bisect bad
Bisecting: 2 revisions left to test
[c3d4e5f] Fix sync issue

$ dits bisect good
d4e5f6g is the first bad commit

# Return to original state
$ dits bisect reset

Related Commands

Commits & History - Understanding commits
File Commands - Managing files
Branch Commands - Working with branches