DevLog Tool

A set of scripts for tracking development progress by wrapping common build/test commands with git commits and structured logging.

What it does

Every time you run a wrapped command (like cargo devlog-test), the tool will:

1. Prompt you to describe what you've changed
2. Stage all changes and create a commit with your description
3. Run your command (e.g., cargo run)
4. Capture the output and git diff
5. Store everything in a TOML file in your project root's .devlog/*.toml

Installation

1. Place the devlog-wrapper and devlog-capture scripts somewhere in your PATH (e.g., ~/.local/bin/)
2. Make them executable: chmod +x ~/.local/bin/devlog-*

Creating Command Wrappers

Create small wrapper scripts for any commands you want to log. The naming convention is <tool>-devlog-<command>:

For Rust projects

# ~/.local/bin/cargo-devlog-run
#!/bin/bash
shift
exec devlog-wrapper cargo run "$@"

# ~/.local/bin/cargo-devlog-test
#!/bin/bash
shift
exec devlog-wrapper cargo test "$@"

Make sure your wrapper scripts are executable.

For Cargo specifically, this naming convention means you can now run cargo devlog-run and cargo devlog-test as Cargo subcommands.

Usage

1. Navigate to any git repository
2. Run your wrapped command: cargo devlog-test
3. Enter a brief description when prompted: "What did you change?"
4. The script runs your command and logs everything

Data Storage

All devlog data is stored in .devlog/data/ at the root of your git repository:

your-project/
├── .devlog/
│   ├── main/
│   │   ├── 001-entry.toml
│   │   ├── 002-entry.toml
│   │   └── ...
│   └── feature/x11-support/
│       ├── 001-entry.toml
│       └── 002-entry.toml
├── src/
└── Cargo.toml

Add .devlog/ to your .gitignore to keep devlog data out of your repositories. I recommend adding it once to your global .gitignore.

TOML Entry Format

Each entry contains:

[metadata]
timestamp = "2025-09-12T10:30:00Z"
sequence = 1
description = "Added basic key event capture for X11"
command = "cargo test"

[git]
commit_hash = "abc123..."
branch = "feature/x11-capture"

[diff]
files_changed = ["src/main.rs", "tests/integration.rs"]
files_created = []
files_deleted = []
diff_content = """
# Full git diff here
"""

[output]
exit_code = 0
content = """
# Command output here
"""

Workflow Example

# Working on a new feature
$ cargo devlog-test
What are you working on? Fix the key parsing logic for special characters
running 5 tests
test key_parser::test_special_chars ... FAILED
...

# Entry 001-entry.toml created with your commit, diff, and test output

# Try a different approach
$ cargo devlog-run
What did you change? Try using regex instead of manual parsing
Application started successfully
...

# Entry 002-entry.toml created

# When ready, squash commits

License

Licensed under either of the following, at your choice:

• Apache License, Version 2.0, or
• MIT license

Unless explicitly stated otherwise, any contribution intentionally submitted for inclusion in this crate, as defined in the Apache-2.0 license, shall be dual-licensed as above, without any additional terms or conditions.