bugs: bug tracking with git-bug (alpha)

Warning

b4 bugs is a technology preview (alpha). Commands, keybindings, and features may change in incompatible ways between releases. Bug reports and feedback are welcome at tools@kernel.org.

The b4 bugs command provides a TUI and CLI for tracking bug reports alongside your git repository using git-bug. Bugs are stored as git objects inside the repo, so they travel with the code and can be shared via git push/git pull without any external service.

Prerequisites

Install git-bug v0.10.1 or later. b4 will automatically create and adopt a git-bug identity the first time you run b4 bugs in a repository, using your user.name and user.email from git config.

TUI overview

Launch with:

b4 bugs tui

The TUI shows a list of all tracked bugs with their submitter, comment count, lifecycle status, and subject. A detail panel at the bottom shows metadata for the highlighted bug.

Bug list keybindings

j/k	Move cursor up/down
Enter	Open bug detail view
N	New bug (import from lore or create manually)
L	Edit labels on the selected bug
a	Triage action (confirm, need info, close, duplicate, etc.)
u	Update selected bug from lore (fetch new messages)
U	Update all bugs from lore
p	Pull bugs from remote
P	Push bugs to remote
l	Limit (filter) the bug list
s	Toggle showing closed bugs
q	Quit

Bug detail keybindings

j/k	Scroll right pane / move between comments (when left pane focused)
,/.	Previous/next comment
r	Reply to selected comment via email
c	Add an internal comment (not emailed)
T	Edit the bug title
X	Remove (tombstone) the selected comment
Space/Backspace	Page down/up
Escape	Return to bug list

Creating bugs

Press N in the bug list to create a new bug. You can choose between:

Import from lore

Enter a Message-ID from a lore.kernel.org thread. b4 fetches the full thread, uses the oldest message as the bug title and body, and adds follow-up messages as comments. Importing the same thread twice is detected and prevented.

Create manually

Opens your editor with a template. The first line becomes the bug title; the rest becomes the description.

Lifecycle states

Bugs move through lifecycle states tracked via lifecycle: labels:

★	new	Newly reported, needs triage
¤	confirmed	Triaged and accepted
‽	needinfo	Waiting for more information
ø	worksforme	Cannot reproduce (closes the bug)
≠	wontfix	Will not be fixed (closes the bug)
✓	fixed	Fixed (closes the bug)
≡	duplicate	Duplicate of another bug (closes the bug)

Comment removal

Press X on a comment to tombstone it. The comment body is replaced with a minimal header preserving the Message-ID (so thread refresh does not re-import it), but all personal data is removed. This supports data removal requests for content visible via cgit or other public interfaces.

CLI commands

For scripting and non-interactive use:

b4 bugs import <message-id>    Import a lore thread as a new bug
b4 bugs import --no-parent <message-id>
                               Import only the sub-thread
b4 bugs list                   List all bugs
b4 bugs list --status open     List only open bugs
b4 bugs list --label <label>   Filter by label
b4 bugs refresh [bug-id]       Fetch new messages from lore
b4 bugs delete <bug-id>        Permanently delete a bug