Jujutsu Can Refuse to Push Private WIP Commits

3 min read

Today I learned that Jujutsu has a built-in guard that blocks specified commits from ever being pushed. You declare it with a revset in your config:

# ~/.config/jj/config.toml  (user-level → applies to every repo)
[git]
private-commits = 'description(glob:"wip:*")'

Now any commit whose description starts with wip:, along with all its descendants, is rejected by jj git push, with a local check that fires before any network contact:

Error: Won't push commit 548e973f323b since it is private
Hint: Configured git.private-commits: 'description(glob:"wip:*")'

Parking Messy Local-Only Work

The workflow for stashing scratch work where it can’t accidentally escape:

jj new                              # fresh change on top
# ...messy edits / notes...
jj describe -m "wip: scratch notes" # the wip: prefix makes it private

The Passive Version: an Unbookmarked Child

private-commits is the active guard. There’s also a passive way to keep work local that falls straight out of the model: jj git push --bookmark <name> only sends the bookmark and its ancestors. Put the publishable work on a bookmarked commit, and the WIP in a descendant child without a bookmark, and the child stays local automatically, no config needed.

# 1. Make the publishable commit. Bookmark it.
jj describe -m "docs: restore architecture and integration"
jj bookmark create docs-restore -r @

# 2. New empty child for the WIP stuff.
jj new -m "local: WIP additions to docs"

# 3. Move specific paths from parent → child.
jj squash --from @- --into @ -- review-notes.md scratch.md

Step 3 is the useful bit: jj squash --from X --into Y -- <paths> moves changes in either direction between any two commits, scoped to just the files you name. Now jj git push --bookmark docs-restore publishes the parent and its ancestors; the unbookmarked child doesn’t go.

The two techniques compose: the unbookmarked child keeps WIP local by default, and a wip: prefix plus private-commits makes it an error to push the child even by accident.

Gotchas / Notes

  • git.private-commits is a jj config key; git is just jj’s namespace for git-interop settings. It is not a git config setting; plain git has no equivalent feature.
  • It’s a revset, so the rule is arbitrary. Description globs are one option; you can equally match on a bookmark, an author, or anything else revsets express.
  • The nearest git equivalent is a pre-push hook that walks outgoing commits and exits non-zero, but that’s per-clone (.git/hooks, unless you set core.hooksPath) and you write the logic yourself.
  • Local bookmarks/branches already stay local in both jj and git (nothing auto-pushes), as the unbookmarked-child trick above relies on. What private-commits adds is the active refusal if you try anyway.