nemo-repo-emblems

Emblem overlays for repository folders in Nemo, the Cinnamon file manager.

Open a directory full of checkouts and you can see, without opening any of them, which folders are repositories, which have uncommitted work, and which have commits that never left the machine.

Four indicators ship by default:

Indicator	Emblem	Shown when
git_repo	emblem-repo-git	The folder holds a .git directory or worktree file
claude_dir	emblem-repo-claude	The folder holds a .claude directory
uncommitted_changes	emblem-repo-dirty	git status reports staged, unstaged or untracked files
unpushed_commits	emblem-repo-unpushed	The branch is ahead of its upstream, or has no upstream at all

Indicators are entries in a config file rather than hardcoded, so you can turn any of them off, point them at different icons, or add your own.

Emblems refresh by themselves. The repository is watched, so committing or pulling in a terminal updates the folder in Nemo without a restart and without a reload.

Requirements

• nemo-repo-core 1.x
• Nemo with nemo-python, git in PATH

Install

git clone https://github.com/dualfroz/nemo-repo-core
cd nemo-repo-core && ./install.sh && cd ..

git clone https://github.com/dualfroz/nemo-repo-emblems
cd nemo-repo-emblems && ./install.sh

nemo -q

install.sh links the plugin into ~/.local/share/nemo-python/extensions, the bundled SVGs into ~/.local/share/icons/hicolor/scalable/emblems, refreshes the icon cache, and checks that the plugin imports. Pass --copy to copy instead of link. ./uninstall.sh removes both the plugin and the icons.

Nothing is written outside your home directory and no root is required.

Configuration

Shared file, read live, no restart needed:

~/.config/nemo-repo-core.json

{
  "indicators": {
    "git_repo": { "enabled": true, "emblem": "emblem-repo-git" },
    "claude_dir": { "enabled": true, "emblem": "emblem-repo-claude", "marker_directory": ".claude" },
    "uncommitted_changes": { "enabled": true, "emblem": "emblem-repo-dirty" },
    "unpushed_commits": { "enabled": true, "emblem": "emblem-repo-unpushed" }
  }
}

Each entry takes:

Field	Meaning
enabled	Draw this indicator at all
emblem	Icon name, from any installed icon theme
marker_directory	Draw it when the folder contains this subdirectory
marker_file	Draw it when the folder contains this file

git_repo, uncommitted_changes and unpushed_commits are computed from git and ignore the marker fields. Any other entry is a marker rule, which is how claude_dir works, and how you add your own:

{
  "indicators": {
    "node_project": { "enabled": true, "emblem": "emblem-important", "marker_file": "package.json" },
    "virtualenv":   { "enabled": true, "emblem": "emblem-symbolic-link", "marker_directory": ".venv" }
  }
}

Any icon name your theme provides works. gtk3-icon-browser lists them.

The one setting worth knowing about lives in the core: cache_ttl_seconds (default 5) bounds how stale a dirty or unpushed emblem can be when the change did not touch .git, for example a new untracked file. Changes inside .git are picked up immediately regardless.

See config.example.json for a complete file.

Notes

• Emblems are drawn on directories only, and only on local paths. Remote locations are skipped rather than queried over the network.
• Nemo has a limited number of emblem slots per icon and gives priority to emblems you set by hand, so with all four indicators on plus a manual emblem some may not be drawn.
• Only repository roots are marked, not every folder inside a checkout. That keeps a listing of a large source tree free of noise.

Migrating from the single file version

This plugin used to be one file, nemo_repo_emblems.py, containing the emblems, the columns, the properties tab and the context menu. It is now five plugins on a shared core, so you can install just the parts you use.

Your config carries over: ~/.config/nemo-repo-emblems.json is copied to ~/.config/nemo-repo-core.json on first run, with every key keeping its name. The old file is not modified.

After installing the core and the plugins you want, remove the old extension so things are not drawn twice:

rm ~/.local/share/nemo-python/extensions/nemo_repo_emblems.py
nemo -q

To go back, restore that file and remove the new plugins from the same directory. Your old config file is untouched.

Tested on

Linux Mint 22.2 (Zara), Cinnamon 6.4.14, Nemo 6.4.5, python-nemo 6.4.0, Python 3.12.3.

License

MIT. See LICENSE.