# Recording git state on install

**URL:** <https://cylc.discourse.group/t/recording-git-state-on-install/1327>\
**Category:** Cylc Support\
**Created:** [June 24, 2026, 4:51am UTC](https://cylc.discourse.group/t/recording-git-state-on-install/1327 "2026-06-24T04:51:25Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 4\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![Lachlan.Whyborn](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/87869e/32.png) [@Lachlan.Whyborn](https://cylc.discourse.group/u/Lachlan.Whyborn)\
**Post date:** [June 24, 2026, 4:51am UTC](https://cylc.discourse.group/t/recording-git-state-on-install/1327/1 "2026-06-24T04:51:25Z")

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I have a Rose/Cylc8 workflow stored in a Git repository. I would like to be able to record the state of the repository (hash and a selection of diffs) on installation in a file (probably JSON or YAML, but format is not important). As far as I can tell from the Cylc8 docs, there’s no way to hook anything into the `install` command to do something like this. Basically, I’m just wondering whether my reading of the docs is correct and what I want to do is not possible with Rose/Cylc, or if there’s some way I can achieve this.

I’m running with `v8.6.2`.

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**Author:** ![wxtim](https://yyz2.discourse-cdn.com/free1/user_avatar/cylc.discourse.group/wxtim/32/151_2.png) [@wxtim](https://cylc.discourse.group/u/wxtim)\
**Post date:** [June 24, 2026, 7:19am UTC](https://cylc.discourse.group/t/recording-git-state-on-install/1327/2 "2026-06-24T07:19:53Z")

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A built in install plugin does this. Look in `<run-dir>/log/version`

[docs reference](https://cylc.github.io/cylc-doc/stable/html/plugins/install/built-in/cylc.flow.install_plugins.log_vc_info.html)

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**Author:** ![Lachlan.Whyborn](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/87869e/32.png) [@Lachlan.Whyborn](https://cylc.discourse.group/u/Lachlan.Whyborn)\
**Post date:** [June 24, 2026, 8:00am UTC](https://cylc.discourse.group/t/recording-git-state-on-install/1327/3 "2026-06-24T08:00:37Z")

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Oh awesome, that’s almost exactly the information I was looking for, thanks.

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**Author:** ![oliver.sanders](https://yyz2.discourse-cdn.com/free1/user_avatar/cylc.discourse.group/oliver.sanders/32/110_2.png) [@oliver.sanders](https://cylc.discourse.group/u/oliver.sanders)\
**Post date:** [June 24, 2026, 10:19am UTC](https://cylc.discourse.group/t/recording-git-state-on-install/1327/4 "2026-06-24T10:19:48Z")

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FYI: Bespoke install plugins are also possible [docs](https://cylc.github.io/cylc-doc/stable/html/plugins/install/index.html), though you may want to touch base here before attempting to develop one incase there are plans for such functionality in the core repo.