Repo Commands

Core commands for creating and managing a PVR repository's working directory.

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pvr init

Initialize a new PVR repository in the current directory.

pvr init
pvr init --spec pantavisor-multi-platform@1
pvr init --objects /custom/object/pool

Creates .pvr/json with the default spec. Also creates a systemc directory if it does not exist.

Flags:

Flag	Env	Description
--objects, -o	PVR_OBJECTS_DIR	Custom object pool directory (absolute or relative). Default: ~/.pvr/objects
--spec, -s	—	State format spec. Default: pantavisor-service-system@1. Legacy: pantavisor-multi-platform@1

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pvr add

Put files under PVR management so they appear in status, diff, and commit.

pvr add lxc-platform.conf lxc-platform.json
pvr add .

Once added, files are tracked in .pvr/tracking.json until the next commit.

pvr add --raw

By default, JSON files are inlined into the state JSON. Use --raw to store them as content-addressed objects instead (preserves exact formatting and avoids bloating the state JSON for large files).

pvr add --raw large-config.json

Flags:

Flag	Env	Description
--raw, -r	PVR_ADD_RAW	Store files as raw objects (including .json)

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pvr status

Show working directory changes compared to the last committed state.

pvr status

Output format:

A newfile.txt         # added
D deleted.txt         # deleted
C some.json           # changed

Flags: none

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pvr diff

Show a JSON-patch-format diff of the working directory vs. the last commit.

pvr diff
pvr diff config.json platform.conf

Filter by specific files by passing them as arguments.

{
  "deleted.txt": null,
  "newfile.txt": "sha256:abc...",
  "some.json": { "key": "new-value" }
}

Flags: none

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pvr commit

Atomically save the working directory state as a new revision.

pvr commit
pvr commit -m "added wifi config"
pvr commit --checkpoint

Flags:

Flag	Description
--message, -m	Commit message
--checkpoint, -c	Update the checkpoint token so this revision is tested and used as a fallback

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pvr json

Print the aggregate state JSON for the current working directory.

pvr json
pvr json --canonical

Flags:

Flag	Description
--canonical, -c	Canonical JSON output (sorted keys)

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pvr inspect

Inspect a repository's state without checking it out.

pvr inspect                         # local .pvr
pvr inspect /path/to/repo
pvr inspect /path/to/repo#bsp       # just the BSP fragment
pvr inspect user/device             # remote Pantahub device
pvr inspect export.tar.gz           # exported tarball

Useful in CI/CD pipelines for verifying container configuration before deployment.

Flags:

Flag	Description
--canonical, -c	Canonical JSON output

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pvr reset

Reset (checkout) the working directory to match the last committed state. Forgets about added files; status and diff become empty afterwards.

Aliases: checkout, co

pvr reset
pvr reset --hardlink
pvr reset --canonical

Flags:

Flag	Env	Description
--hardlink, -hl	—	Use hardlinks to objects (files become read-only)
--canonical, -c	PVR_CANONICAL_JSON	Canonical JSON formatting for checked-out JSON files; hardlink implies this