Kinetic Merge – merge a refactored codebase and stay sane

Hacker News

Back in the early 2010s I often found myself trying to merge code that had been refactored on one branch and had new functionality added or existing code changed on another. So subclasses being hoisted, methods being extracted, methods being sorted by visibility, code being packaged up into classes and these moved into their own files... Meanwhile on the other branch changes were made to the original code prior to all this refactoring. It made merging a bit challenging to say the least. I was aware of Git/Mercurial/Bazaar's ability to merge through file moves, but that wasn't enough for the fine-grained movement of code that took place in a refactoring. So I thought about writing a tool to handle this on my commutes to work - and then got on with the job anyway and never got round to it. There was always something more pressing (and usually paid for) to do. Fast forward to 2023 and I had the time to work on this pipe-dream. I had some ideas back then about how to do this using a genetic algorithm and naively thought it would take six months or so, maybe a year. Turned out to take a lot longer, but it's been a fascinating project to work on. The genetic algorithm was sacked in the first six months, btw. Installation instructions are here: https://github.com/sageserpent-open/kineticMerge#installatio... It's an MIT-licensed CLI application. You will need a JRE >= 17 on your system to run it. Currently, it is expected that you work using Git, so it reads Git history and makes Git merge commits. It's currently on its 57th release, and I use it for my own work (including its own development), so it's out of alpha these days. Go crazy with it, and do raise tickets on GitHub if you find bugs. High praise is always welcome too!

Visit product View on Hacker NewsJun 30, 2026

Share card

Actual performance

2points

Did not reach leaderboard

Launch Intel predictions

Analyze your own launch →

Product HuntOn track for Day 1 leaderboard · Strong signals: new, using, code · Missing: mac, agents, macos

89%89% predicted probability of success on Product Hunt, based on ML models trained on real launch data.

best fitHighest predicted score across all platforms for this description.

Indie HackersFits the IH revenue-focused audience · Strong signals: including · Missing: supports, reddit linkedin, podcasting

84%84% predicted probability of success on Indie Hackers, based on ML models trained on real launch data.

Hacker NewsStrong engagement from HN community · Strong signals: exist, existing, ide · Missing: https docs, excited, just released

67%67% predicted probability of success on Hacker News, based on ML models trained on real launch data.

nativeThis product was originally launched on this platform.

TrustMRRFits verified-revenue profile · Strong signals: month, way · Missing: mobile apps, ios, personal

51%51% predicted probability of success on TrustMRR, based on ML models trained on real launch data.

AppSumoMay struggle as an AppSumo deal · Missing: plus, platform, intuitive

41%41% predicted probability of success on AppSumo, based on ML models trained on real launch data.

Acquire.comPre-revenue stage for this audience · Missing: arr, mrr, revenue

17%17% predicted probability of success on Acquire.com, based on ML models trained on real launch data.

BetaListMay not resonate with beta-testers · Strong signals: paid · Missing: web3, chat, crypto

0%0% predicted probability of success on BetaList, based on ML models trained on real launch data.

Incorrect prediction on native model

Similar products

Merge Mamba – No more merge conflicts33%Launch Intel prediction score: how likely this product is to succeed on its source platform, based on its name, tagline, and description.

Merge Mamba – No more merge conflicts

Hacker News4

Sliproad 2.1 – Merge Filesystems Together33%Launch Intel prediction score: how likely this product is to succeed on its source platform, based on its name, tagline, and description.

Sliproad 2.1 – Merge Filesystems Together

Hacker News2

Merge35%Launch Intel prediction score: how likely this product is to succeed on its source platform, based on its name, tagline, and description.

M&A Advisors

Indie Hackerscommitment-full-time

Merge Mamba37%Launch Intel prediction score: how likely this product is to succeed on its source platform, based on its name, tagline, and description.

Get a grip on your branches

Indie Hackers1programming

Merge Fellas18%Launch Intel prediction score: how likely this product is to succeed on its source platform, based on its name, tagline, and description.

Fun merge game

Product Hunt+8

havitmail26%Launch Intel prediction score: how likely this product is to succeed on its source platform, based on its name, tagline, and description.

Ai powered merge emailing platform

Product Hunt

An Agent That Resolves Merge Conflicts Automatically48%Launch Intel prediction score: how likely this product is to succeed on its source platform, based on its name, tagline, and description.

An Agent That Resolves Merge Conflicts Automatically

Hacker News3

Visualizing a Codebase48%Launch Intel prediction score: how likely this product is to succeed on its source platform, based on its name, tagline, and description.

Visualizing a Codebase

Hacker News283

Else19%Launch Intel prediction score: how likely this product is to succeed on its source platform, based on its name, tagline, and description.

Prototype on your real codebase. Ship a merge-ready PR.

Indie Hackers1ai

Merge CommonJS without overhead and generate dependency maps with Klassmer33%Launch Intel prediction score: how likely this product is to succeed on its source platform, based on its name, tagline, and description.

Merge CommonJS without overhead and generate dependency maps with Klassmer

Hacker News3

Browse all products Analyze your launch