Jj Commit Cycle

jj Commit Cycle

The jj equivalent of git add -A && git commit -m "<msg>". Two commands, in order, with a verification step.

When to use

You (or the user) just finished an atomic edit in a jj working copy and want to preserve it before starting the next change.

Prerequisites

• .jj/ exists in the repo root (jj-native or colocated).
• Working copy has changes (jj st shows non-empty output).

Steps

1. Survey what will be preserved:

   jj st
   jj diff --stat
   

2. Describe the current change. Follow the repo's commit convention (typically <type>(<scope>): <subject>):

   jj describe -m "<type>(<scope>): <subject>"
   

3. Open a new child change so the just-described change is finalized and future edits land on a fresh @:

   jj new
   

4. Verify:

   jj log -r '::@' --limit 3
   

Common mistakes

• Skipping step 3: any further edits get absorbed into the change you just "committed", silently polluting it.
• Running git commit: jj does not track the resulting commit as @; subsequent jj describe will appear to "revert" the commit message.
• Using deprecated jj commit -m: always jj describe -m + jj new.

Related

• Multi-change cleanup: jj squash --from <src> --into <dst>, jj split.
• Recovery if the wrong change was described: jj op undo.
• Pushing after the cycle: jj git push --change @ (creates a push-<change-id> bookmark). If the nwiizo/jujutsu.fish plugin is installed, jj_push_pr chains that with gh pr create.