1 files changed, 17 insertions, 0 deletions
diff --git a/identity/identity.go b/identity/identity.go
index 114b954e..d57e8ce0 100644
--- a/identity/identity.go
+++ b/identity/identity.go
@@ -20,6 +20,9 @@ const identityRemoteRefPattern = "refs/remotes/%s/identities/"
 const versionEntryName = "version"
 const identityConfigKey = "git-bug.identity"
 
+const idLength = 40
+const humanIdLength = 7
+
 var ErrNonFastForwardMerge = errors.New("non fast-forward identity merge")
 var ErrNoIdentitySet = errors.New("user identity first needs to be created using \"git bug user create\"")
 var ErrMultipleIdentitiesSet = errors.New("multiple user identities set")
@@ -93,6 +96,10 @@ func read(repo repository.Repo, ref string) (*Identity, error) {
 	refSplit := strings.Split(ref, "/")
 	id := refSplit[len(refSplit)-1]
 
+	if len(id) != idLength {
+		return nil, fmt.Errorf("invalid ref length")
+	}
+
 	hashes, err := repo.ListCommits(ref)
 
 	// TODO: this is not perfect, it might be a command invoke error
@@ -461,6 +468,16 @@ func (i *Identity) Id() string {
 	return i.id
 }
 
+// HumanId return the Identity identifier truncated for human consumption
+func (i *Identity) HumanId() string {
+	return FormatHumanID(i.Id())
+}
+
+func FormatHumanID(id string) string {
+	format := fmt.Sprintf("%%.%ds", humanIdLength)
+	return fmt.Sprintf(format, id)
+}
+
 // Name return the last version of the name
 func (i *Identity) Name() string {
 	return i.lastVersion().name