gitanon

Anonymous git identity manager — commit anonymously, impersonate GitHub users, and manage signing behavior per-repo.

  gitanon on          Anonymize current repo
  gitanon off         Restore global identity and re-enable signing
  gitanon as <user>   Commit as another GitHub user
  gitanon whoami      Show current repo identity
  gitanon hook        Run gitanon-aware git hooks

What it does

gitanon overrides your local git config (never global) so you can:

• Go anonymous — set a local anonymous identity (user with an empty email), disable signing, mark the repo with a config flag
• Impersonate anyone — fetch a GitHub user's public profile and commit as them (name + noreply email)
• Restore cleanly — undo all overrides and re-enable signing in one command
• Hook integration — ships a mysystem.gitanon config flag that your hooks can check to skip signing enforcement

Install

See the full Installation Guide for all methods including Nix, go install, and building from source.

# Quick install via go
go install github.com/yzua/gitanon@latest

# Or via nix
nix run github:yzua/gitanon

# Or add to your flake inputs
# inputs.gitanon.url = "github:yzua/gitanon";

Quick Start

# Anonymize current repo
cd my-repo
gitanon on
# ✔ Anonymous mode in my-repo

# Check identity
gitanon whoami
# Repo:     my-repo
# Name:     user
# Email:    (none)
# Signing:  false
# Key:      (none)
# AnonMode: on
# Scope:    local (override)

# Commit anonymously (with hooks that honor `mysystem.gitanon`)
git add .
git commit -m "chore: anonymous work"

# Impersonate another GitHub user
gitanon as octocat
# ✔ Committing as The Octocat <583231+octocat@users.noreply.github.com> in my-repo

# Restore your real identity and re-enable signing
gitanon off
# ✔ Restored global identity in my-repo

Commands

Command	Aliases	Description
gitanon on	anon	Set anonymous identity (user, empty email, signing disabled)
gitanon off	back, undo	Restore global identity and re-enable GPG signing
gitanon as <user>	—	Fetch GitHub user and commit as them
gitanon whoami	—	Show current repo identity
gitanon hook <name>	—	Run a hook (pre-commit, pre-push) that respects anon mode
gitanon completion <shell>	—	Generate shell completions (bash, zsh, fish, powershell)
gitanon version	—	Print version

How gitanon as works

gitanon as octocat

1. Calls GET https://api.github.com/users/octocat (unauthenticated, public endpoint)
2. Fetches: login, numeric ID, display name
3. Sets local git config:
   • user.name = "The Octocat"
   • user.email = "583231+octocat@users.noreply.github.com"
   • commit.gpgSign = false
   • tag.gpgSign = false
   • push.gpgSign = false
   • user.signingKey = ""
   • mysystem.gitanon = true

The noreply email format is <id>+<login>@users.noreply.github.com, which is GitHub's native anonymous email format.

Hook Integration

gitanon sets a config flag that your hooks can detect:

# Check if anon mode is active
if [ "$(git config --bool --get mysystem.gitanon || echo false)" = "true" ]; then
  echo "Anonymous mode — skipping signing enforcement"
  exit 0
fi

Or use gitanon hook directly in your hooks:

#!/bin/sh
# .git/hooks/pre-push (or global hooksPath)
gitanon hook pre-push

See docs/hooks.md for detailed setup.

Config Flag

gitanon uses mysystem.gitanon in local git config as its marker:

Value	Meaning
true	Anonymous mode active — hooks should skip signing enforcement
absent	Normal mode — hooks enforce signing as usual

This flag is only set in local config (git config --local), never global.

Development

just all       # fmt + vet + lint + test + build
just test      # Run tests
just lint      # Run golangci-lint
just cover     # Generate coverage report

nix develop    # Enter dev shell (go, golangci-lint, just, git)

Why not just git config --local?

You could do all this manually, but gitanon:

• Batches 7 config changes into one command
• Fetches GitHub user IDs for noreply email construction
• Provides a standard flag for hook integration
• Restores signing correctly (the thing you always forget)
• Works the same across shell environments

License

WTFPL