git-remote-iroh #

A git remote helper that transports the git pack protocol over iroh QUIC, enabling peer-to-peer git push and fetch without a centralized server.

How it works #

git-remote-iroh acts as a bridge between git's remote helper protocol and iroh's peer-to-peer QUIC transport. It has two modes:

• Server mode — listens for incoming iroh connections and spawns git-receive-pack or git-upload-pack to handle push/fetch requests against a local bare repository.
• Remote helper mode — invoked automatically by git when you use an iroh:// remote URL. It connects to the peer via iroh QUIC, sends the operation type, and pipes the git pack protocol over the connection.

Each node has a persistent identity (an iroh keypair stored at ~/.git-remote-iroh/secret_key). The public key serves as the node's address — no DNS, no IP addresses, no accounts.

git push/fetch                iroh QUIC               git-receive-pack
  ──> remote_helper.rs  ────> P2P network ────> server.rs ──> git-upload-pack
      (client)                                  (peer)

Install #

Requires Rust and git.

cargo install --path .

This places git-remote-iroh on your PATH, which is all git needs to recognize iroh:// remote URLs.

Usage #

Start a server #

On the machine hosting the bare repo:

git-remote-iroh serve /path/to/repo.git

This prints the node ID and waits for connections:

node_id: ad3a791627b4bc96e1ce891f6efbb08b1247ce27cbbfaaf0b5cdbdfb0f022725
remote URL: iroh://ad3a791627b4bc96e1ce891f6efbb08b1247ce27cbbfaaf0b5cdbdfb0f022725
waiting for connections... (ctrl-c to stop)

Push and fetch #

On any other machine with git-remote-iroh installed:

git remote add peer iroh://ad3a791627b4bc96e1ce891f6efbb08b1247ce27cbbfaaf0b5cdbdfb0f022725
git push peer main
git fetch peer

Standard git commands work — the remote helper handles the iroh transport transparently.

Show your node info #

git-remote-iroh info

Prints your node's public key and the iroh:// URL others would use to connect to you.

Project structure #

src/
├── main.rs           # CLI: serve, info, and remote-helper entry points
├── remote_helper.rs  # Git remote helper protocol (client side)
├── server.rs         # Iroh protocol handler (server side)
├── protocol.rs       # GitOp enum and ALPN constant (git/iroh/0)
├── config.rs         # Persistent keypair management
└── lib.rs            # Module exports
tests/
└── push_fetch_test.rs

Debugging #

Set RUST_LOG for verbose output:

RUST_LOG=debug git push peer main