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