Zinc Oxide

A Rust CLI tool that recursively checks for git projects and reports their statuses, and optionally checks Nix flakes for flake.lock updates.

Zinc Oxide scans directories to find git repositories and displays their current status, showing which repositories have uncommitted changes. It's useful for managing multiple projects and ensuring all your repositories are in a clean state.

Installation

Nix flake

The flake's default package is built with the nix feature, so the flake lock checker (-F) is included.

Try it without installing:

nix run github:Mozart409/zinc_oxide -- -p ~/code

Install it into your profile:

nix profile install github:Mozart409/zinc_oxide

Or add it to a NixOS or home-manager configuration as a flake input:

{
  inputs.zinc_oxide.url = "github:Mozart409/zinc_oxide";

  outputs = { nixpkgs, zinc_oxide, ... }: {
    nixosConfigurations.my-host = nixpkgs.lib.nixosSystem {
      system = "x86_64-linux";
      modules = [
        ({ pkgs, ... }: {
          environment.systemPackages = [
            zinc_oxide.packages.${pkgs.stdenv.hostPlatform.system}.default
          ];
          # home-manager: home.packages = [ zinc_oxide.packages.${pkgs.stdenv.hostPlatform.system}.default ];
        })
      ];
    };
  };
}

Cargo

          git clone https://github.com/Mozart409/zinc_oxide

          cargo install --path zinc_oxide

To enable the Nix flake checker, build with the nix feature:

cargo install --path zinc_oxide --features nix

Usage

Basic usage

zinc_oxide

Searches the current directory recursively for git repositories and reports their status.

Specify a path

          zinc_oxide --path /path/to/search

          zinc_oxide -p ~/code/

Show individual files

zinc_oxide -f

Shows the specific files that have uncommitted changes.

Show empty repositories

zinc_oxide -e

Includes repositories that have no uncommitted changes in the output.

Compact output

zinc_oxide -c

Prints only the number of repositories with uncommitted files, e.g. 3 repos. Combined with -F it also counts flakes with updates: 3 repos, 2 flakes with updates.

Combine options

zinc_oxide --path ~/code -f -e

Nix flake lock checker

          zinc_oxide --path ~/code --flakes

          zinc_oxide -F -f -p ~/code/rust/axon-gateway

Recursively discovers directories containing a flake.nix and checks each one for available flake.lock updates. Requires building with the nix Cargo feature and having the nix CLI on PATH. Without the feature, --flakes exits with an error.

Non-mutating: each check runs nix flake update against a throwaway lock path, so your existing flake.lock files are never modified.
Parallel: up to 8 flakes are checked at once.
Timeouts: each check is abandoned after --flake-timeout seconds (default 120).
Changed inputs: with -f, lists the flake's direct inputs whose locked revision would change, or notes that only transitive inputs changed.
Missing locks: flakes without a flake.lock are reported as needing initialization instead of having one created.
Failures: failed checks show the error output from nix.

Example output

Found 4 Nix flakes:

--- Flake: /home/you/code/rust/axon-gateway ---
Updates available!
  nixpkgs: 3b9f00d -> 8a2c4e1

--- Flake: /home/you/code/rust/zinc_oxide ---
Updates available!
  (only transitive inputs changed)

--- Flake: /home/you/code/scratch ---
No flake.lock file (needs initialization)

--- Flake: /home/you/code/website ---
No updates available

Options

-h, --help: Print help message
-v, --version: Print version information
-p, --path <PATH>: Check this absolute path (defaults to current directory)
-f, --files: Show individual files with uncommitted changes (and changed flake inputs with --flakes)
-e, --empty: Show empty repositories (those with no uncommitted changes)
-c, --compact: Only print counts
-F, --flakes: Check Nix flakes for lock updates (build with --features nix)
--flake-timeout <SECS>: Seconds to wait for each flake check (default 120)

Examples

          # Search current directory for git repos with changes

          zinc_oxide

          # Search a specific directory and show changed files

          zinc_oxide --path ~/dev -f

          # Show all repositories including clean ones

          zinc_oxide -e

          # Check flakes and list which inputs would change

          zinc_oxide -F -f -p ~/code

          # Give slow flakes more time

          zinc_oxide -F --flake-timeout 300 -p ~/code

Features

Recursive directory scanning for git repositories
Status reporting for uncommitted changes
File-level detail when requested
Hidden directories and symlinks are not followed
Bare and invalid repositories are skipped
Optional Nix flake lock-update checker: non-mutating, parallel, with per-flake timeouts and changed-input listing (behind the nix Cargo feature)
Non-zero exit status on errors
End-to-end test suite against golden output