CLI Reference

Local Lock Commands

Record editing intent inside one repository. These locks are local advisory metadata, not remote team coordination.

Not distributed enforcement

Lock records live in the local repository. Dits does not synchronize them, lease them from a server, or use them as multi-user authorization. Other programs—and Dits operations that do not consult this store—can still modify, rename, or delete the file.

Command	Current behavior	Usage
lock	Create a local advisory lock record	dits lock [OPTIONS] <PATH>
unlock	Release a local lock record	dits unlock [OPTIONS] <PATH>
locks	List active local lock records	dits locks [OPTIONS]

`dits lock`

Adds a path, owner, expiry time, and optional reason to .dits/locks.json. The owner is derived from Git's user.email when available, then from the local system user. The default time to live is eight hours.

# Create a local record with the default TTL
dits lock footage/scene01.mov --reason "Color pass"

# Choose a TTL in hours
dits lock footage/scene01.mov --ttl 2

# Replace an existing local record deliberately
dits lock footage/scene01.mov --force

`dits locks`

# List active records
dits locks

# Include full local record details
dits locks --verbose

# Filter by the stored owner identifier
dits locks --owner editor@example.com

Expired records are omitted from listings. A list is a snapshot of one local lock file; it does not query another workstation or a service.

`dits unlock`

# Release a record owned by the current local identity
dits unlock footage/scene01.mov

# Override the owner check for this local record
dits unlock footage/scene01.mov --force

A lightweight local convention

These commands can help coordinate processes or people who deliberately share and honor the same repository metadata. For real multi-machine exclusivity, use an external coordination system until remote lock semantics are implemented.

See the status and roadmap for the remote-lock boundary and file commandsfor local staging and commits.