Coordinated changes

A coordinated change is the same branch, carried through every repository the change touches. This page walks the full loop for a service and its client; the same shape scales to any set of related repos.

1. Declare the relation (once)

In the service's daft.yml:

relations:
  - url: git@github.com:acme/api-client.git
    name: client
    kind: consumer

Commit it — the manifest is team-shared. Edges are directed; if the client's team also drives coordinated changes from their side, they declare the service in their daft.yml the same way.

Every related repo must be cloned locally (daft tells you the exact daft clone <url> if one isn't).

2. Open the branch everywhere

daft start feat/rename-field --with-related

This creates feat/rename-field — worktree, branch, upstream — in the current repo and in every related repo, each based on that repo's own default branch. Rules that keep the fan-out safe:

• Resolution happens up front: a missing clone aborts before anything is created.
• --carry and -x apply only to the current repo.
• Hooks run in a related repo only when that repo is explicitly trusted — a fan-out never stops to ask.
• You land in the current repo's new worktree; per-repo failures are reported at the end rather than cascading.

When only one other repo needs the branch, skip the fan-out and target it directly — daft start <repo> <branch> creates it over there (based on that repo's default branch) and lands you in the new worktree:

daft start client feat/rename-field

Combining both forms roots the fan-out at the target: daft start client feat/rename-field --with-related creates the branch in client and in the repos client's manifest declares.

3. Work across the set

Hop between the repos' worktrees as if they were one project:

daft go client                     # client's default-branch worktree
daft go client feat/rename-field   # the coordinated branch over there
daft go -                          # and back

Run anything across the branch's worktrees in every repo that has it:

daft exec --related -- pnpm test
daft exec --related -- git status -sb

--related follows your current branch: it targets each related repo's worktree for that branch and skips (with a notice) repos that don't carry it. Output rows are labeled repo:branch so interleaved results stay readable.

4. Finish per repo

Coordinated changes end the ordinary way — each repo gets its own push, PR, review, and merge. daft does not entangle git histories across repositories; the graph coordinates your working state, not your remotes.

daft exec --related -- git push

Sequence the merges the way your dependency direction requires (for a service+client pair: usually service first, then the client that consumes it).

Variations

• One-off cross-repo errand — no manifest needed: daft exec --repo client -- pnpm build, or daft go client fix/typo to open a branch there directly.
• Fleet-wide sweeps — --all-repos targets every cataloged repo's default-branch worktree instead of following a branch: daft exec --all-repos -- git fetch --prune.

Where to next

• Repo catalog — the registry these commands resolve against
• Graph concepts — why relations are URL-keyed and directed