Install jj with Homebrew, MacPorts, Nix, scoop, winget

Project links

• Homepage
• Upstream docs
• Package manager page

Commands and aliases

• jj

Project history

Martin von Zweigbergk says in the project README that he started Jujutsu as a hobby project in late 2019, and that it later became his full-time work at Google with help from other Googlers while remaining a community-supported open-source project. The README also records that the repository moved to the `jj-vcs` GitHub organization in December 2024.

The design grew around a few deliberately non-Git ideas: the working copy is represented as a commit, conflicts are first-class objects, operations are logged, and descendants are automatically rebased after rewrites. At the same time, the Git backend lets users keep GitHub and GitLab-oriented collaboration paths.

Adoption history

Adoption has been driven by command-line developers who want Git interoperability without Git's index-centric workflow. The input package metadata records packaging across Homebrew, MacPorts, Nix, Scoop, and Winget, which is notable for a young VCS because it gives users a direct path on Unix-like and Windows systems.

The README notes that core developers use Jujutsu to develop Jujutsu on GitHub, turning the project into a self-hosting example for its own workflow.

How it is used

`jj` is used as a daily version-control CLI: users initialize or colocate repositories with Git, make changes that are automatically snapshotted, rewrite and split changes, inspect history with revsets/templates, push through Git remotes, and use the operation log to understand or undo repository operations.

The tool is especially interesting for stacked-change workflows because descendants are automatically rebased when earlier changes are edited, and conflicts can be carried as repository state instead of forcing immediate textual resolution.

Why package nerds care

For package nerds, `jj` is one of the rare modern VCS packages that is not merely a Git porcelain: it has its own data model while preserving Git-backed distribution. That makes the package a useful bellwether for how far a new developer tool can spread through standard package managers before a 1.0 line.

Its Rust implementation, Git compatibility, operation log, and self-hosting use make it a high-signal package in the developer-tools ecosystem.

Timeline

• 2019: Martin von Zweigbergk starts Jujutsu as a hobby project.
• 2021: The README says Martin had used `jj` almost exclusively to develop the project itself since early January.
• 2023: Martin presents Google's plans for Jujutsu at Git Merge 2022, referenced by the README news section.
• 2024: Version 0.14 deprecates `jj checkout` and `jj merge`; version 0.24 adds `jj file annotate`; the repository moves to the `jj-vcs` organization.
• 2026: The changelog records 0.42.0 on 2026-06-04.

Related projects

• The official README names Git, Mercurial, Sapling, Darcs, Breezy, and Piper/CitC as related systems or design influences. Its package neighborhood also includes `jjui`, a terminal UI built specifically for interacting with Jujutsu repositories.

Sources

• Project README, Jujutsu documentation, working-copy documentation, changelog, and Homebrew formula metadata.