Git Notes

Git Notes add text notes to commits, tags and other objects. Such notes can contain all kinds of metadata, for example comments on code review, links to bug reports, etc:

  1. Add a git note:

    $ git notes add -m 'Example note'

  2. Display a git note:

    $ git log
commit 859de540cda23f510f4ecbe0f38d07666e933f08 (HEAD -> main)
Author: Veit Schiele <veit@cusy.io>
Date:   Sun Mar 24 11:17:56 2024 +0100

    A commit message

Notes:
    Example note

  3. Change a git note:

    $ git notes edit

However, Git notes are not sent to the remote repository with git push or git pull by default; they must be synchronised with git push origin 'refs/notes/*' and git fetch origin 'refs/notes/*:refs/notes/*'.

Warning

Do not use git pull instead of git fetch: you will not be able to merge refs/notes/commits with your current branch.

Note

Git notes are not included in the git commit history, so they cannot be used for regulatory purposes where provenance, non-repudiation or tamper resistance must be proven. However, they can be useful for build tags and similar.

See also