Getting started

Hachicode is a code editor for iPad and iPhone, built around the same git workflow you'd use on a laptop. Clone a repository, edit files with syntax highlighting and a real keyboard story, commit, push. Everything works offline; the only network traffic is what you ask for (clone, push, fetch).

This page walks through the happy path end-to-end. Each section links to a more detailed page for the inevitable "what if" cases.

What you'll need

• An iPad or iPhone on a recent version of iOS.
• A git host. Public GitHub, GitHub Enterprise, GitLab.com, self-hosted GitLab, Gitea, Bitbucket — anything that speaks HTTPS or SSH.
• For private repositories: a credential (SSH key, OAuth, or personal access token). See SSH keys or OAuth sign-in.
• An external keyboard is optional but recommended for any serious editing. The app works fine with the on-screen keyboard; it works much better with a hardware one.

Add your first project

Open the Home tab and tap the + button in the top right. You'll see two choices:

• Clone repository — get a copy from a remote URL. The most common path. See Cloning a repository.
• New local project — start fresh on this device. No remote.

If this is your first time, the app will ask for your name and email — this becomes your git commit identity. You can change it later in Settings → Git.

Edit a file

Open a project from the Home tab. The workspace has three areas:

• Sidebar (left) — file tree, expandable folders, file history.
• Editor (center) — the file you're currently editing, with tabs across the top.
• Status strip (bottom) — current line, file size, branch.

Tap a file in the sidebar to open it. The app picks a syntax highlighter from the extension. Tap text in the editor to position the cursor; tap-and-hold to start a selection.

For everything the editor can do — gestures, multi-cursor, find and replace — see Editor basics.

Save your changes

The editor saves to disk automatically a short moment after you stop typing. No "unsaved changes" indicator to chase. On a hardware keyboard, Cmd+S also saves immediately if you want the reassurance.

TIP

Auto-save commits to disk, not to git. Your changes are persisted locally, but they won't appear in git log until you commit them — see the next section.

Commit your changes

Switch to the Sync mode from the activity bar (the side rail). You'll see a list of your modified files and the diff for each. Type a commit message at the top, then tap Commit.

The commit identity prompt that ran when you opened your first project is what populates Author: on each commit. You can override the identity per-project in the project settings if you need to.

See Committing changes for the details: amending, what's staged automatically, and what happens to deleted files.

Push to the remote

Once you have one or more commits, the Sync screen shows a Push button. Tap it; the app pushes your current branch to its tracked remote.

If the remote has new commits you don't have locally, the push will be rejected — git's standard "non-fast-forward" failure. The app explicitly does not offer in-app merge resolution; instead it surfaces the divergence and points you at fetching first. See Push and fetch for the model.

Where to go next

• Cloning a repository — the full clone screen
• SSH keys or OAuth sign-in — set up credentials for private repos
• Editor basics — gestures, shortcuts, multi-cursor
• Custom keyboards — the accessory row above the iOS soft keyboard
• Snippets — code templates with placeholders