Another option is --filter=blob:none so Git downloads history but not blob data until it needs to.

haven't figured out how to set --filter=blob:none usign gitpython

filter=['blob:none'] should work. kwargs passed in are meant to mimic the usual commands you would use with git itself.

filter=['blob:none'] should work. kwargs passed in are meant to mimic the usual commands you would use with git itself.

thank you
unbelievable it's a list
I was digging around Objects.Blob and getting nowhere

for testing I install the canvas-zoom extension
the old install cloneing the entire repo history will result in a size of 199MB
now with --filter=blob:none the size is 75MB