GitDrive

PowerShell NavigationCmdletProvider for Git branch navigation and analysis.

Browse branches with cd/ls, view commit diffs with Get-Content, checkout with Invoke-Item, and analyze branches with PowerShell pipelines.

Quick Start

# Navigate to any git repository and mount
cd C:\MyRepo
gcd                          # mounts Git:\ and navigates to current branch

# Browse
dir                          # branches + commits
cd feature\login             # enter a child branch
Get-Content .\abc1234        # view commit diff
cd ..                        # back to parent
ii .\feature\login           # git checkout

Installation

Run the following in a PowerShell 7 console:

Install-PSResource GitDrive

Requires:

• PowerShell 7.4+
• .NET 8.0 SDK (for building)

Drive Structure

Git:\
  master                     # root branch (main or master)

Git:\master\
  feature/                   # namespace folder (groups feature/* branches)
  hotfix/                    # namespace folder
  bugfix-test                # child branch
  abc1234                    # commit (leaf)
  def5678                    # commit

Git:\master\feature\
  login                      # branch feature/login
  signup                     # branch feature/signup

Git:\master\feature\login\
  abc1234                    # commit unique to this branch
  def5678                    # commit unique to this branch

• Branches = containers (blue, cd into them)
• Commits = leaves (yellow SHA, view with Get-Content)
• Namespace folders = virtual grouping for /-containing branch names

Commands

Navigation

Command	Description
gcd	Mount drive and navigate to current branch
gcd feature/login	Mount and navigate to specific branch
gcd abc1234	Mount and navigate to specific commit
dir	List child branches + commits
dir -Recurse	Show full branch hierarchy (no commits)
cd feature\login	Enter child branch
cd ..	Go up

Branch Operations

Command	Description
New-Item .\new-branch -Value master	Create branch from master
Remove-Item .\old-branch -Recurse	Delete branch
Rename-Item .\old -NewName new	Rename branch
Invoke-Item .\feature\login	Checkout branch (git checkout)

Viewing

Command	Description
Get-Content .\abc1234	Show commit diff/patch
Get-Item .\feature\login	Branch details
Get-Item .\abc1234	Commit details

Table Columns

Column	Description
Name	Branch name (blue) or commit SHA (yellow)
Ahead	Commits ahead of parent branch (+5)
Date	Commit/tip date
Author	Commit/tip author
Message	Commit/tip message
Refs	Branches, tags, HEAD -> pointing to this commit

Current branch is marked with *. Namespace folders show branch count.

Pipeline Analysis

GitDrive outputs typed objects, enabling PowerShell pipeline operations that are difficult with git CLI.

Find merged branches

Get-ChildItem -Recurse |
  Where-Object { $_.IsBranch -and $_.Ahead -eq 0 -and -not $_.IsCurrent }

Find stale branches (older than 3 months)

Get-ChildItem -Recurse |
  Where-Object { $_.IsBranch -and $_.Date -lt (Get-Date).AddMonths(-3) } |
  Sort-Object Date

Top 5 branches by commit count

Get-ChildItem -Recurse |
  Where-Object IsBranch |
  Sort-Object Ahead -Descending |
  Select-Object -First 5 Name, Ahead

Find branches by author

Get-ChildItem -Recurse |
  Where-Object { $_.IsBranch -and $_.Author -match 'yotsuda' }

Branch health summary

$b = Get-ChildItem -Recurse | Where-Object IsBranch
[PSCustomObject]@{
    Total   = $b.Count
    Merged  = ($b | Where-Object { $_.Ahead -eq 0 }).Count
    Stale   = ($b | Where-Object { $_.Date -lt (Get-Date).AddMonths(-3) }).Count
    Active  = ($b | Where-Object { $_.Date -gt (Get-Date).AddMonths(-1) }).Count
}

Compare two branches

$master  = Get-ChildItem Git:\master | Where-Object { -not $_.IsBranch }
$feature = Get-ChildItem Git:\master\feature\login
Compare-Object $master $feature -Property Sha -PassThru |
  Select-Object @{N='Side';E={$_.SideIndicator}}, @{N='Sha';E={$_.ShortSha}}, ShortMessage

Clean up merged branches

Get-ChildItem -Recurse |
  Where-Object { $_.IsBranch -and $_.Ahead -eq 0 -and -not $_.IsCurrent } |
  Remove-Item -Recurse

Object Properties

Items output by Get-ChildItem are GitCommitInfo objects with these properties:

Property	Type	Description
Name	string	Branch name or short SHA
Sha	string	Full commit SHA
Message	string	Commit message
Author	string	Author name
Date	DateTime	Author date
Ahead	int	Commits ahead of parent (branches only)
Refs	string	Branches/tags pointing to this commit
IsBranch	bool	True for branches
IsNamespace	bool	True for namespace folders
IsCurrent	bool	True for checked-out branch
ShortSha	string	7-char SHA
ShortMessage	string	First line of message
DateStr	string	yyyy-MM-dd format

Performance

Operation	First	Cached
dir (root)	0.02s	0.02s
dir (39 branches)	1.0s	0.3s
dir -Recurse (39 branches)	14s	0.5s

Cache TTL is 30 seconds. Invalidated automatically after create/delete/rename.