-------------------
`git credential` reads and/or writes (depending on the action used)
-credential information in its standard input/output. These information
+credential information in its standard input/output. This information
can correspond either to keys for which `git credential` will obtain
the login/password information (e.g. host, protocol, path), or to the
actual credential data to be obtained (login/password).
-The credential is split into a set of named attributes.
-Attributes are provided to the helper, one per line. Each attribute is
+The credential is split into a set of named attributes, with one
+attribute per line. Each attribute is
specified by a key-value pair, separated by an `=` (equals) sign,
followed by a newline. The key may contain any bytes except `=`,
newline, or NUL. The value may contain any bytes except newline or NUL.
In both cases, all bytes are treated as-is (i.e., there is no quoting,
and one cannot transmit a value with newline or NUL in it). The list of
attributes is terminated by a blank line or end-of-file.
-Git will send the following attributes (but may not send all of
-them for a given credential; for example, a `host` attribute makes no
-sense when dealing with a non-network protocol):
+Git understands the following attributes:
`protocol`::
`password`::
The credential's password, if we are asking it to be stored.
+
+`url`::
+
+ When this special attribute is read by `git credential`, the
+ value is parsed as a URL and treated as if its constituent parts
+ were read (e.g., `url=https://example.com` would behave as if
+ `protocol=https` and `host=example.com` had been provided). This
+ can help callers avoid parsing URLs themselves. Note that any
+ components which are missing from the URL (e.g., there is no
+ username in the example above) will be set to empty; if you want
+ to provide a URL and override some attributes, provide the URL
+ attribute first, followed by any overrides.