Docs / Project

When NOT to use sgit

Every tool earns trust faster by stating its edges. Here are sgit's, plainly.

Don't use sgit if…

You need a secrets manager. sgit refuses to commit .env files, .netrc, private keys and friends — deliberately. Use a purpose-built secrets manager for credentials; use sgit for documents, data, and working files.
You need long-term API stability guarantees today. sgit is in beta: it powers production workflows daily and the vault format is versioned (sgit migrate handles upgrades), but commands and flags can still evolve between minor versions. Keep sgit vault backup archives of anything precious.
You need partial commits. There is no staging area — a commit snapshots the whole folder. If your workflow depends on committing three of seven changed files, sgit will fight you (use branches instead, or split folders into separate vaults).
Your data is huge binaries that change constantly. Large files work (they're chunk-uploaded past a ~4 MB threshold), but sgit is built for working sets of documents and code-sized files, not video archives. Storage is versioned: history keeps old ciphertext around until pruned.
You want the server to do things with your data. Zero knowledge cuts both ways: the server cannot index, search, preview, or process your content. All intelligence lives client-side — that is the point.
You lose keys. There is no password reset, no recovery, no back door. That's a feature — but only if your key management is real. Password manager, plus sgit vault backup --include-key somewhere safe.

Commit author attribution is not yet recorded — in multi-agent vaults, per-agent identity currently comes from branch IDs, not signed authorship. Signature slots exist in the format; population is planned work.
Merge drivers are whole-file three-way. Structured merges (JSON-aware, union) are designed but not yet shipped.
Bare clones (clone --bare) are incomplete.
The full CLI reference on this site is still being wired to its generator (it will be produced from the CLI's own argument parser on every release, so it can never go stale).

If one of these gaps blocks you, say so on GitHub — real usage reports move the roadmap.