lbranch

lbranch ("last branch") is a git utility that shows your recently checked out branches in chronological order, with an optional interactive checkout.

Usage

# Show last 5 branches (default)
lbranch
# Show last N branches
lbranch -n 3
lbranch --number 3
# Show branches and select one to checkout
lbranch -s
lbranch --select
# Show last N branches and select one
lbranch -n 3 -s
# Color control
lbranch --no-color     # Disable colored output
lbranch --force-color  # Force colored output even in non-TTY environments

Example Output

Last 5 branches:
1) feature/new-ui
2) main
3) bugfix/login
4) feature/api
5) develop

Color Support

lbranch automatically detects if your terminal supports colors:

• Colors are disabled when output is not to a terminal (when piped to a file or another command)
• Colors are disabled on Windows unless running in a modern terminal (Windows Terminal, VS Code, etc.)
• You can force colors on with --force-color or off with --no-color
• lbranch respects the NO_COLOR and FORCE_COLOR environment variables

Exit Codes

lbranch follows the standard exit codes from sysexits.h for better integration with scripts and other tools:

• 0: Success
• 64: Command line usage error (not in a git repository, invalid selection)
• 66: Cannot open input (no branch history/no commits)
• 69: Service unavailable (git command not found)
• 75: Temporary failure (branch checkout failed, retry possible)
• 130: Operation interrupted (Ctrl+C)

These follow Unix conventions where exit codes 64-78 are standardized error codes, and 128+N indicates termination by signal N.

Requirements

• Python 3.7+
• Git

Installation

Using pip

You can install lbranch directly from PyPI:

pip install lbranch

Using Homebrew

You can install lbranch using Homebrew:

brew tap dcchuck/lbranch
brew install lbranch

License

Distributed under the MIT License. See LICENSE