--- title: I made my own git | daily.dev description: A developer built a simplified version control system from scratch to understand git's internals. The implementation uses SHA-256 hashing (instead of git's... canonical: https://daily.dev/posts/i-made-my-own-git-fwqs5dx1b twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:site: @dailydotdev og:type: website og:site_name: daily.dev og:title: I made my own git | daily.dev og:description: A developer built a simplified version control system from scratch to understand git's internals. The implementation uses SHA-256 hashing (instead of git's... og:url: https://daily.dev/posts/i-made-my-own-git-fwqs5dx1b og:image: https://api.daily.dev/og/posts/FWqS5dx1b.png og:image:alt: I made my own git og:image:width: 1200 og:image:height: 630 og:locale: en --- > ## Documentation Index > Fetch the complete documentation index at: https://daily.dev/llms.txt > Use this file to discover all available pages before exploring further. # I made my own git **[Hacker News](https://daily.dev/sources/hn)** · 6 min read · 77 upvotes · 4 comments ## Summary A developer built a simplified version control system from scratch to understand git's internals. The implementation uses SHA-256 hashing (instead of git's SHA-1) and zstd compression (instead of zlib) to store file objects, tree structures, and commits. The project demonstrates how git works as a content-addressable file store, with commits referencing tree objects that contain file hashes. Key features include recursive directory traversal, object compression/decompression, commit generation with parent tracking, and checkout functionality. The hardest part was parsing the custom object formats, which could be improved by using structured formats like JSON or YAML. ## Full article daily.dev links to this article rather than hosting it. Read it at the original source: ## Community discussion Top comments from developers on daily.dev. **@khauma** · 5 upvotes > I should do this one weekend... **@lunaro\_4** · 0 upvotes > What is the reasoning behind choosing SHA256, aside from it being newer? As far as I understand, SHA1 is faster. Although it is not as secure, you state that it is not a concern. **@priyaranjankumar** · 0 upvotes > Nice, but its not working as of now. ## Similar posts on daily.dev - [I Built Git from Scratch to Finally Understand What I've Been Using for Years](https://daily.dev/posts/i-built-git-from-scratch-to-finally-understand-what-i-ve-been-using-for-years-3wx3ymzn1) · DEV · 23 upvotes · 0 comments --- Tags: [#rust](https://daily.dev/tags/rust), [#git](https://daily.dev/tags/git), [#version-control](https://daily.dev/tags/version-control), [#data-structures](https://daily.dev/tags/data-structures) [View this post on daily.dev](https://daily.dev/posts/i-made-my-own-git-fwqs5dx1b) ```json {"@context":"https://schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Organization","@id":"https://daily.dev/#organization","name":"daily.dev","url":"https://daily.dev","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://daily.dev/apple-touch-icon.png","width":180,"height":180},"sameAs":["https://twitter.com/dailydotdev","https://github.com/dailydotdev","https://www.linkedin.com/company/daily-dev-ltd"]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https://daily.dev/#website","url":"https://daily.dev","name":"daily.dev","publisher":{"@id":"https://daily.dev/#organization"},"potentialAction":{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https://daily.dev/search?q={search_term_string}"},"query-input":"required name=search_term_string"}}]} {"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"TechArticle","headline":"I made my own git","url":"https://daily.dev/posts/i-made-my-own-git-fwqs5dx1b","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://daily.dev/posts/i-made-my-own-git-fwqs5dx1b"},"datePublished":"2026-01-27T13:37:43.804Z","dateModified":"2026-01-27T13:38:06.364Z","description":"A developer built a simplified version control system from scratch to understand git's internals. 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As far as I understand, SHA1 is faster. Although it is not as secure, you state that it is not a concern.","datePublished":"2026-03-16T10:01:41.955Z","url":"https://daily.dev/posts/FWqS5dx1b#c-N63BJb1my","author":{"@type":"Person","name":"Lunaro_4","url":"https://daily.dev/lunaro_4","image":"https://avatars.githubusercontent.com/u/64870947?v=4"}},{"@type":"Comment","text":"Nice, but its not working as of now.","datePublished":"2026-03-27T04:20:49.207Z","url":"https://daily.dev/posts/FWqS5dx1b#c-u3SbsRguS","author":{"@type":"Person","name":"Priyaranjan Kumar","url":"https://daily.dev/priyaranjankumar","image":"https://media.daily.dev/image/upload/s--O0TOmw4y--/f_auto/v1715772965/public/noProfile"}}]} ```