DNA

.faf-dna is your project's birth certificate: the score project.faf had the first time faf init wrote it, recorded once. A project gets one. faf keeps it, and records what happens after.

faf dna

🧬 YOUR FAF DNA

   22% → 85% ← 80%

   Birth DNA 22% (born 2025-10-28)  ·  current 80%  ·  growth +58%

The line reads birth → peak ← now. Under it, history lists every version: the score, the day, and what moved it.

What records growth

Command	.faf-dna
init	writes the birth certificate when there is none
init --new, init --force	a fresh project.faf; .faf-dna is kept as it is
auto, go, edit	add a version when the score moves. Never create a .faf-dna.
refresh	adds a version when the score moves; writes the birth certificate when there is none

A score that doesn't move adds no version.

Written once

The birth certificate is written once and never replaced. faf writes .faf-dna only when there is none: with one there, in any shape, it writes nothing. init --output sub/x.faf writes it beside the file, as sub/.faf-dna.

As data

faf dna --json

Birth, certificate, current score, growth, peak, the journey line, every version with its changes, and any earlier lives. The same file gives the same JSON. With no .faf-dna, it exits 1 and prints nothing to stdout.

Keep it in git

Gitignored, .faf-dna is lost on a fresh clone, a new machine, or git clean -X. faf init and faf dna say so, naming the rule:

faf: .faf-dna is gitignored (.gitignore:2: .faf-dna): a fresh clone loses the birth certificate. Commit it, or put the reason in a # comment above that line.

To keep it local on purpose, put the reason in a # comment on the line above the rule. faf stays quiet.

Committed, the certificate is permanent: the commit that first added .faf-dna is named by the hash of its content, so it can't change without rewriting history. Until then, faf init and faf dna print the command to run:

The birth certificate is not committed yet. Commit it to make it permanent: git add .faf-dna && git commit -m "faf: birth certificate"

faf never commits for you.

Verify

faf dna --verify

Compares the certificate in .faf-dna with the one in the commit that first added it: certificate, born, birthDNA and projectDNA must be the same. A certificate that was deleted and written again is still checked against the first commit.

Exit	Means
0	the same
1	changed, or .faf-dna is gone
2	can't check: not a git repository, a shallow clone, or not committed yet

--json gives the result as data. A shallow clone (actions/checkout defaults to one commit) can't show the first commit, so faf says so rather than report a match; fetch the full history first (fetch-depth: 0).

Protected

A .faf-dna faf can't prove it wrote (another tool's file, or one edited by hand) is read and left exactly as it is. faf adds no versions to it, and faf dna says the certificate is protected.