git count-objects: Usage, Options & Common CI Errors
git count-objects summarizes how many objects and packs your repository is carrying.
Before deciding to gc or repack, count-objects shows whether loose objects have piled up and how much disk the repo uses - a quick health check for CI caches and large repos.
What it does
git count-objects counts the loose (unpacked) objects and their on-disk size; with -v it also reports packed objects, the number of packs, and garbage that gc would remove.
Common usage
Terminal
git count-objects
git count-objects -v
git count-objects -vH # human-readable sizes
# decide whether to repack:
git count-objects -v | grep countOptions
| Flag | What it does |
|---|---|
| -v / --verbose | Show packed counts, packs, and garbage |
| -H / --human-readable | Print sizes in KiB/MiB/GiB |
Common errors in CI
count-objects rarely errors; the gotcha is interpretation. A high "count" of loose objects signals that gc/repack would help, while a large "size-garbage" line means unreachable objects waiting for prune. It reports the current repo only, so submodules and worktrees are counted separately.
Related guides
git gc: Usage, Options & Common CI Errorsgit gc compresses and prunes the object database to keep the repo fast and small. Reference for --aggressive,…
git repack: Usage, Options & Common CI Errorsgit repack combines loose objects and packs into fewer, tighter packfiles. Reference for -a, -d, -A, and the…
git prune: Usage, Options & Common CI Errorsgit prune deletes unreachable objects from the object store. Reference for -n, --expire, and why gc is usuall…
git pack-objects: Usage, Options & Common CI Errorsgit pack-objects bundles objects into a compressed packfile. Reference for --stdout, --revs, --all, and the m…