Álvaro Ramírez

29 November 2020 Emacs: Clone git repo from clipboard

Cloning git repositories is a pretty common task. For me, it typically goes something like:

Copy git repo URL from browser.
Drop to Emacs eshell.
Change current directory.
Type "git clone ".
Paste git repo URL.
Run git command.
Change directory to cloned repo.
Open dired.

No biggie, but why go through the same steps every time? We can do better. We have a hyper malleable editor, so let's get it to grab the URL from clipboard and do its thing.

shell-command or async-shell-command can help in this space, but require additional work: change location, re-type command, what if directory already exists… This is Emacs, so we can craft the exact experience we want. I did take inspiration from shell-command to display the process buffer correctly (git progress, control codes, etc.) and landed on the following experience:

;; -*- lexical-binding: t -*-

(defun ar/git-clone-clipboard-url ()
  "Clone git URL in clipboard asynchronously and open in dired when finished."
  (interactive)
  (cl-assert (string-match-p "^\\(http\\|https\\|ssh\\)://" (current-kill 0)) nil "No URL in clipboard")
  (let* ((url (current-kill 0))
         (download-dir (expand-file-name "~/Downloads/"))
         (project-dir (concat (file-name-as-directory download-dir)
                              (file-name-base url)))
         (default-directory download-dir)
         (command (format "git clone %s" url))
         (buffer (generate-new-buffer (format "*%s*" command)))
         (proc))
    (when (file-exists-p project-dir)
      (if (y-or-n-p (format "%s exists. delete?" (file-name-base url)))
          (delete-directory project-dir t)
        (user-error "Bailed")))
    (switch-to-buffer buffer)
    (setq proc (start-process-shell-command (nth 0 (split-string command)) buffer command))
    (with-current-buffer buffer
      (setq default-directory download-dir)
      (shell-command-save-pos-or-erase)
      (require 'shell)
      (shell-mode)
      (view-mode +1))
    (set-process-sentinel proc (lambda (process state)
                                 (let ((output (with-current-buffer (process-buffer process)
                                                 (buffer-string))))
                                   (kill-buffer (process-buffer process))
                                   (if (= (process-exit-status process) 0)
                                       (progn
                                         (message "finished: %s" command)
                                         (dired project-dir))
                                     (user-error (format "%s\n%s" command output))))))
    (set-process-filter proc #'comint-output-filter)))

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Updates

Added lexical binding.
Checks clipboard for ssh urls also.

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