--- title: Overview hide_title: true custom_edit_url: null --- import { ThemedImage } from '@site/src/components/ThemedImage';
## Clone faster! Sparo optimizes performance of Git operations for your large frontend monorepo. ## Key features - **Familiar interface:** The `sparo` command-line interface (CLI) wrapper offers **better defaults** and **performance suggestions** without altering the familiar `git` syntax. (The native `git` CLI is also supported.) - **A proven solution:** Git provides [quite a lot of ingredients](./pages/reference/git_optimization.md) for optimizing very large repos; Sparo is your recipe for combining these features intelligently. - **Simplified sparse checkout:** Work with sparse checkout [profiles](./pages/guide/sparo_profiles.md) instead of confusing "cones" and globs - **Frontend integration:** Sparo leverages [Rush](https://rushjs.io/) and [PNPM](https://pnpm.io/) workspace configurations, including the ability to automatically checkout project dependencies - **Dual workflows:** The `sparo-ci` tool implements a specialized checkout model optimized for continuous integration (CI) pipelines - **Extra safeguards**: Avoid common Git mistakes such as checkouts with staged files outside the active view - **Go beyond Git hooks:** Optionally collect anonymized Git timing metrics in your monorepo, enabling your build team to set data-driven goals for _local_ developer experience (not just CI!) _(Metrics are transmitted to your own service and are not accessible by any other party.)_ ## Quick demo Try out Sparo in 5 easy steps: 1. Ensure you are using the latest Git version. For macOS, we recommend to use [brew install git](https://git-scm.com/download/mac). For other operating systems, see the [Git documentation](https://git-scm.com/book/en/v2/Getting-Started-Installing-Git) for instructions. 2. Clone your [RushJS](https://rushjs.io/) monorepo: ```shell sparo clone https://github.com/my-company/my-monorepo.git ``` 👉 _For a real world demo, try this repo:_ [https://github.com/Azure/azure-sdk-for-js.git](https://github.com/Azure/azure-sdk-for-js.git) > 💡 Support for PNPM and Yarn workspaces is planned but not implemented yet. Contributions welcome! 3. Define a [Sparo profile](./pages/configs/profile_json.md) describing the subset of repository folders for Git sparse checkout. Here is a basic example: **common/sparo-profiles/my-team.json** ```json { "selections": [ { "selector": "--to", "argument": "my-rush-project" } ] } ``` The `--to` [project selector](https://rushjs.io/pages/developer/selecting_subsets/#--to) instructs Sparo to checkout all dependencies in the workspace that are required to build `my-rush-project`. 👉 _If you're demoing **azure-sdk-for-js**, replace `my-rush-project` with `@azure/arm-commerce`._ 4. Check out your Sparo profile: ```shell sparo checkout --profile my-team ``` 5. For everyday work, consider choosing [mirrored subcommands](./pages/commands/overview.md) such as `sparo revert` instead of `git revert`. The Sparo wrapper provides (1) better defaults, (2) suggestions for better performance, and (3) optional anonymized performance metrics. Examples: ```shell sparo pull sparo commit -m "Example command" ```