git-newspaper

Generate a Victorian broadsheet newspaper from any git repository's commit history.

npx git-newspaper

Opens newspaper.html in your browser, a fully typeset front page built from your actual commits, authors, deleted files, and code churn. No API keys. No LLM. Works offline.

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Install

npm install -g git-newspaper

Or run without installing:

npx git-newspaper

Usage

# Run inside any git repo
git-newspaper
Point at a specific repo
git-newspaper --repo /path/to/repo
Scope to recent activity
git-newspaper --since "2 weeks ago"
git-newspaper --since "2024-01-01"
Export as PNG instead of HTML
git-newspaper --format png
Save to a specific file
git-newspaper --output my-paper.html
Limit commits analysed (default: 500)
git-newspaper --limit 200
Don't open the browser automatically
git-newspaper --no-open

What's in the newspaper

Every section is generated from your actual git data, nothing is made up.

Section	Source
Front page headline	Your largest commit by lines changed
Lead article	Commit authors, file counts, date range
Meteorological Report	Commit sentiment and activity pattern
Obituaries	Files deleted in the period
Opinion column	Your most-modified file, writing about itself
Vital Statistics	Commit counts, top authors, churn rankings
Commit Activity	Timeline chart of activity over the period
Classifieds	Archetype-specific notices based on your repo's patterns

Archetypes

The tool detects what kind of repository it's looking at and adjusts the layout, tone, and content accordingly:

Archetype	Trigger	Edition
Revert Crisis	>12% of commits are reverts	Crisis Edition
Solo Marathon	One author dominates >70% of commits	Profile Edition
Ghost Town	Fewer than 8 commits	Quiet Edition
Dependency Churn	>35% of commits touch lock files	Administrative Notice
Refactor Sweep	>25% of commits are refactors	Infrastructure Report
Bugfix Crisis	>35% of commits are fixes	Emergency Edition
Feature Sprint	>35% of commits are features	Launch Edition
Collaborative	5+ authors with 40+ commits	Collaborative Edition
Balanced	Everything else	Morning Edition

PNG export

Requires Playwright (not installed by default):

npm install -D playwright
npx playwright install chromium
git-newspaper --format png

How it works

• Parses git log --stat locally via simple-git, no GitHub API, no network requests
• Detects a repository archetype from commit patterns
• Selects content from archetype-specific template libraries using a seeded RNG (same repo always produces the same paper)
• Renders a self-contained HTML file with all fonts and styles inline

Requirements

• Node.js 18 or later
• A git repository with at least one commit

License

MIT