Advanced Revsets

This covers advanced revset usage in JJ. For basics, see the Quick Start guide.

What are Revsets?

Revsets are JJ’s query language for selecting commits. They’re used with commands like jj log -r <revset>.

Daily basics (covered in Quick Start):

• @ - Current commit
• @- - Parent of current
• main..@ - Commits between main and current
• stack - Your current stack (LazyJJ alias)

This guide covers LazyJJ’s custom aliases and advanced combinations for complex queries.

When You Need Advanced Revsets

Most daily work uses simple revsets: @, @-, stack, stacks.

Advanced revsets are useful for:

• Complex rebasing: Moving multiple commits with specific criteria
• Bulk operations: Finding and modifying many commits at once
• Custom automation: Scripts that manipulate commit history
• Debugging: Finding commits that match specific patterns

If you’re doing routine stack work, stick to the basics in the Quick Start.

LazyJJ Revset Aliases

Alias	Definition	Purpose
trunk	trunk()	The main branch
branch_off	fork_point(trunk() | @)	Where you diverged from trunk
stack_base	roots(branch_off+::@)	Root commit of current stack
stack	stack_base::	All commits in current stack
stacks	mine() & mutable()	All your work-in-progress
no_description	description(exact:'') ~ root() ~ empty()	Commits needing descriptions
ghbranch	heads(::@ & bookmarks())	Current bookmark for GitHub

Understanding the Stack Model

LazyJJ’s stack concept is built on these revsets:

trunk (main)
    │
    └── branch_off (fork point)
            │
            └── stack_base (first commit in stack)
                    │
                    ├── commit 2
                    │
                    └── @ (current position)

The stack revset selects all commits from stack_base to the tips.

Basic Examples

# View your current stack
jj log -r stack

# View all your work-in-progress
jj log -r stacks

# Find commits without descriptions
jj log -r no_description

# See where you diverged from trunk
jj log -r branch_off

# Check which bookmark will be used for GitHub
jj log -r ghbranch

Combining Revsets

You can combine LazyJJ revsets with JJ’s operators:

# Stack commits that are empty
jj log -r "stack & empty()"

# Stack commits with bookmarks
jj log -r "stack & bookmarks()"

# Your stacks excluding current stack
jj log -r "stacks ~ stack"

Advanced Use Cases

Find All Commits Touching Specific Files

# All my commits touching auth code
jj log -r "file(src/auth) & mine()"

# Commits in current stack that modified tests
jj log -r "stack & file(glob:**/*test*.js)"

# Any commit that changed package.json
jj log -r "file(package.json)"

Bulk Operations on Commits

# Squash all empty commits in stack
jj squash -r "stack & empty()"

# See all commits without descriptions
jj log -r no_description

# Abandon all empty commits
jj abandon "empty() & mine()"

Complex Stack Queries

# All your stacks except current one
jj log -r "stacks ~ stack"

# Commits in stack that have bookmarks
jj log -r "stack & bookmarks()"

# All mutable commits you own (all WIP)
jj log -r stacks

# Commits in stack that conflict
jj log -r "stack & conflict()"

Time-Based Queries

# My commits from today
jj log -r "mine() & committer_date(after:'today')"

# Commits in last week
jj log -r "mine() & committer_date(after:'1 week ago')"

# Old branches I forgot about
jj log -r "mine() & mutable() & committer_date(before:'1 month ago')"

Customizing Revsets

Add your own revset aliases:

~/.config/jj/conf.d/zzz-my-revsets.toml

[revset-aliases]
# Work in progress on feature X
"wip-x" = "mine() & mutable() & description(substring:'feature-x')"

# All commits touching database code
"db-changes" = "file(glob:**/db/**) & mine()"

# Recent commits (last 7 days)
"recent" = "mine() & committer_date(after:'1 week ago')"

# Commits ready for review (have bookmarks, not empty)
"ready" = "mine() & bookmarks() & ~empty()"

Next Steps

• Review Quick Start for daily-use revsets
• See JJ’s official revset docs for complete syntax
• Check Stack Workflow for stack-specific commands