Software Developer’s Dream Button Automatically Git Commits
Max Blade’s ClickGit button automates every software developer’s biggest headache: committing to Git.
If you can print a “Hello World!” to the terminal, then congratulations: you’re a programmer! But to do software development on any kind of serious level, you need to do a lot more than just write code. Organization is absolutely critical, as you need a system for implementing and tracking changes. That’s the principle behind structured version control and Git is the most popular system. Interacting with Git, however, can be a real chore. So, Max Blade built a software developer’s dream button, called ClickGit, that automatically does that monotonous work.
According to a Stack Overflow survey from 2022, 97% of professional developers use Git as their primary version control system. Simply put, everyone uses it and that probably includes you.
Uploading a change to a Git server usually requires entering three commands in sequence: git add, git commit, and git push. When you perform a commit, good practice dictates that you also include a description of the code changes. To the non-developers reading this, that might not seem like a big deal. But if you’re doing that several times a day (or hour), it adds up fast.
Max Blade’s button does all three of those things with one tap. Typing out a description isn’t even necessary, as it makes use of Cursor’s AI-generated code change summary feature.
The hardware is deliberately simple. It consists of an ESP32-S3 development board on a custom PCB with a mechanical key switch and a handful of individually addressable RGB LEDs for some eye candy. That PCB does require SMD soldering of small components, which can be tricky. Max Blade has a pick-and-place machine that helped with population, but this can be done with just a steady hand. That hardware fits inside of a 3D-printed enclosure with one massive, easily slapped button on top.
When plugged into a computer, ClickGit will look like a regular USB HID keyboard. At the press of the oversized button, it will begin typing out a series of commands into the terminal. That starts with the git add, ends with the git push, and sandwiches the git commit in the middle, including the code change summary generated by Cursor.
It is, essentially, a big version-controlled “save” button for software developers. Max Blade plans to sell some ClickGit buttons and you can join the waitlist on the website he setup, if you’re interested in buying one.