What’s New in Git 2.37? Performance Boosts, Sparse Checkout & Security Fixes

Git 2.37 was officially released on Tuesday.

New features include a built‑in file‑system monitor that improves performance, currently stable on Windows and macOS and can be enabled via configuration. It helps developers manage the clutter of deleted objects more efficiently.

Git 2.37 also adds support for sparse clone, allowing users to fetch only parts of a repository instead of the entire history.

According to multiple surveys, about 94 % of developers use Git, yet only a minority explore its advanced capabilities.

The Git documentation lists roughly 150 commands, categorized as basic, advanced, and plumbing, with various options.

Despite its maturity, the Git team continues to work on performance, security, and workflow improvements.

The file‑system monitor aims to speed up commands like git status by potentially scanning the whole working directory, and it can also use external monitors such as Watchman.

Sparse checkout is a key feature in 2.37, especially for large repositories, building on the sparse index introduced last year, though not all Git commands yet understand the sparse index.

Version 2.37 expands core command support, including git show, git sparse-checkout, and git stash, with the latter offering up to an 80 % performance gain in certain scenarios.

A new feature called “cruft packs” stores inaccessible objects in a single file with timestamps, reducing repository fragmentation that can degrade performance.

Embedding credentials in URLs (e.g., protocol://user:password@domain/path) is identified as a security risk; the new transfer.credentialsInUrl setting can be set to “warn” or “die” to prevent accidental usage.

Git remains a powerful tool—give the new version a try!