Git 2.49+ Features (2025)

git-backfill Command (New in 2.49)

What: Efficiently download missing objects in partial clones using the path-walk API.

Why: Dramatically improves delta compression when fetching objects from partial clones, resulting in smaller downloads and better performance.

Basic Usage

# Check if you have a partial clone
git config extensions.partialClone

# Download missing objects in background
git backfill

# Download with custom batch size
git backfill --batch-size=1000