GVFS

GVFS, short for Git Virtual File System, is a set of tools and a Windows file-system filter designed to enable Git workflows for very large repositories by virtualizing file contents. It presents a working tree where many files appear as lightweight placeholders while their full contents reside on a remote repository. When a placeholder file is accessed, GVFS fetches the actual data from the remote server, caches it locally, and serves it to the user. This lazy-loading model reduces the initial clone size, checkout time, and local disk usage for large monorepos.

The GVFS client integrates with Git for Windows and runs with a background process to manage fetches, caching, and synchronization with the remote repository. Typical usage involves cloning the repository, mounting the GVFS virtual file system, and then working with files as needed—GVFS transparently downloads content on demand. Some Git operations may require additional steps or server-side support.

GVFS originated as an internal Microsoft project to address the challenges of large code bases and was later released as an open-source project under the name VFS for Git, inviting community contributions and broader adoption. It is associated with large-scale development workflows and can improve performance for very large repositories, but it requires appropriate server configuration and tooling and may not be suitable for all projects.