BitTrack – personal version control system

Version control sits at the core of modern software development. Whether you’re coding solo or collaborating as part of a team, tools like Git and GitHub have become indispensable for tracking changes, managing branches, and ensuring smooth collaboration.

But I asked myself a question: what if I tried building a version control system from scratch?

That’s how BitTrack was born.

What is BitTrack?

BitTrack is an open-source version control system that I created as my own take on Git. It allows developers to track file changes, manage repositories, and work across branches—while also serving as a deep learning experience for me (and anyone interested) to understand how systems like Git actually function behind the scenes.

This project was never just about building another tool. It was about digging into the fundamentals of distributed version control, challenging myself to re-create the mechanisms that millions of developers rely on daily, and gaining a true appreciation for the complexity hidden behind Git’s simple commands.

Key Features

BitTrack already supports the core functionality of a modern version control system. Developers can initialize repositories, track changes, and store different versions of files. A commit system makes it possible to save file states with messages and roll back when needed, while branching allows work to be organized into separate lines of development.

Merging has also been implemented, making it possible to combine work from different branches into a unified project history. On top of that, BitTrack provides log tracking, enabling developers to view commit history and follow the evolution of a project.

Although it’s not as feature-rich as Git, BitTrack covers the essentials and demonstrates how version control works at its core.

Technology Stack

BitTrack is written in C++, chosen for its speed and fine-grained control over low-level operations—both of which are crucial when interacting directly with files and directories. The project is built around two main components:

• File system operations, which handle snapshots, diffs, and metadata to maintain an accurate project history.
• A command-line interface (CLI), which gives developers a lightweight but powerful way to initialize repositories, commit changes, and manage branches directly from the terminal.

Development & Challenges

Working on BitTrack has been one of the most eye-opening experiences of my development journey. The biggest challenge was gaining a deep understanding of how Git works under the hood. While Git feels simple from the outside—just a matter of commits, branches, and merges—it is powered by advanced concepts such as content-addressable storage, trees, and hashing.

Designing my own approach for storing file versions, managing references, and preserving commit history consistency was a major task. Getting branching and merging right was especially difficult, since it required handling conflicts gracefully and maintaining the integrity of the commit graph.

Another lesson was learning to balance performance and simplicity. Git is extremely fast because of years of optimization, but with BitTrack I prioritized clarity and educational value. The result is a system that is easier to read, extend, and modify—though not nearly as optimized as Git.

The project also helped me sharpen my object-oriented programming and design pattern skills. I wanted BitTrack to be extensible, so that features like remotes, collaboration, or even graphical interfaces could be added in the future without rewriting the core.

Future Plans

BitTrack is still in its early stages, but I already have several features planned for the roadmap. One goal is to implement remote repositories, allowing developers to push and pull changes between different BitTrack instances. Building on that, I want to add collaboration support, enabling multiple developers to contribute to the same repository.

A GUI layer is also planned to make commit and branch management more visual and accessible. Finally, I’m exploring an experimental feature—AI-powered code review—to provide developers with automated insights and suggestions during the commit process.

Conclusion

BitTrack isn’t meant to replace Git—it’s a project about learning, experimenting, and building something meaningful from the ground up. For me, it was an opportunity to peek behind the curtain of a tool I use every day and gain a much deeper appreciation for just how powerful and complex version control really is.

If you’re curious about the internals or want to contribute, you can check out the open-source repository on GitHub and explore the code for yourself.