Manage local checkouts

Main checkout

Every device has one main checkout per managed project. Its absolute local path is stored privately in mode-0600 canonical.ini beside client.ini. The server receives only the path information allowed by public_path_mode; the default basename mode works with ordinary sync and never needs to be changed to full just to find this device's folders. Publishing or explicitly syncing another folder is refused with a message naming the main one unless --replace-checkout is supplied. publish, sync --repo, and register with that flag update the same main selection as checkout set-canonical. The inventory and lock are shared by configurations in the same directory. Keep configurations for different servers or device identities in separate directories; server reports are separate for each client ID.

Inspect and select checkouts

status, default sync, and checkout list show the same managed project set and effective main selection. Their output begins with the scope, device, and server. --repo . explicitly selects the current repository for status or sync. Discovery stays explicit: status --scan inspects configured roots; checkout list --scan also lists additional paired copies without selecting them. sync --scan discovers paired checkouts under those roots and obeys the same main selection as ordinary sync. If no selection exists, it uses a single discovered checkout; duplicates require an explicit choice. A selected checkout that is absent from the discovery result is skipped, with no fallback to a different copy. ckgit checkout set-canonical NAME PATH verifies that PATH is a working tree connected to NAME, then updates the server report and private main selection. The command spelling is retained for compatibility: "canonical" means the main checkout on this device. It does not upload commits or remove another copy.

For checkouts registered by an older client, run ckgit checkout migrate --dry-run, then ckgit checkout migrate. Existing absolute reports can be adopted directly after validation. Basename-only reports are matched against configured scan_root directories using the folder name and validated remote. Only a unique match is adopted. Missing or ambiguous matches remain unresolved and list how to select a folder with checkout set-canonical. Migration never uploads refs or changes the path privacy setting.

Stop managing a checkout

ckgit checkout forget NAME previews removal of this device's local selection and server registration, then asks for confirmation (--yes for automation). It also works when the checkout folder is missing. Files, remotes, commits, the hosted repository, and other devices' records remain intact. The server must be reachable; a failed remote removal preserves the local selection. Use register to manage the checkout again. Deliberately running sync --scan can also rediscover paired copies.