Martin von Zweigbergk Joins East River Source Control as CTO

Martin von Zweigbergk Joins East River Source Control as CTO

Takeaway: Martin von Zweigbergk, the creator of the Jujutsu (jj) version control system, is now chief technology officer of East River Source Control (ERSC), a move that positions the company to build a new storage‑layer backend for version control that can scale beyond Git’s limitations.

Why the appointment matters

Martin von Zweigbergk brings a decade of experience solving large‑scale source‑code management problems. He built Jujutsu as a side project in 2019, later working full‑time on it at Google. Jujutsu has amassed over 30,000 GitHub stars and is released under the Apache 2.0 license. Prior to Jujutsu, von Zweigbergk contributed to Fig, Google’s Mercurial client for the monorepo Piper, and to Git itself. His background directly aligns with ERSC’s mission to create a version‑control platform that can handle the “exponentially increasing needs of source‑code management and collaboration tools” driven by AI.

"The hard problems many engineering teams are just beginning to face are ones he’s already been working on for over a decade. Having Martin lead our engineering affords ERSC a wholly different level of technical capability as an organization." – Benjamin Brittain, CEO & Co‑founder, ERSC

What ERSC aims to change

ERSC is developing a next‑generation storage layer for version control, separate from Git’s traditional object model. The company argues that while Jujutsu improves the local developer experience, the remote server remains Git, which “has a ceiling that comes fast for products at scale.”

"Jujutsu improves the part of version control that sits on your laptop. But the remote server is still Git, which has a ceiling that comes fast for products at scale. We think the storage layer has to change to match the model, and that work can be better supported by a company than an open source project." – Martin von Zweigbergk, CTO, ERSC

ERSC plans to launch a private beta of ERSC Storage later this month, targeting enterprises that need robust, AI‑friendly source‑code collaboration.

Community reactions on Hacker News

  • Value proposition concerns: Some commenters questioned how ERSC differentiates itself from existing GitHub‑style services and from alternatives like SourceHut or Codeberg. The consensus was that ERSC’s focus on a new storage backend could provide a genuine technical advantage.
  • Jujutsu’s unique features: Users praised Jujutsu’s undo capability, non‑destructive editing, and flexible branching model. One user highlighted that every edit in Jujutsu is stored as a change, akin to non‑destructive editing in Photoshop, which benefits both humans and AI agents.
  • Scalability doubts: A few participants wondered whether Jujutsu can handle large‑scale repositories today. One comment noted the lack of sparse, blob‑less, treeless support, suggesting that ERSC’s upcoming storage layer could address these gaps.
  • Open‑source future: Several commenters asked whether Jujutsu would continue as an open‑source project. Von Zweigbergk confirmed he will remain a core maintainer, keeping the CLI and its Apache 2.0 license intact.

Technical implications

  1. Backend redesign: By decoupling the remote storage from Git’s packfile format, ERSC could enable features like instant branching, massive parallel histories, and AI‑driven code suggestions without the performance penalties of traditional Git servers.
  2. Rust‑centric implementation: While not officially confirmed, community speculation points to a Rust‑based stack, which would align with Jujutsu’s own implementation language and provide safety and performance benefits.
  3. Enterprise‑grade tooling: ERSC’s positioning as a “human ↔ machine collaboration” platform suggests integrations with LLMs, automated code review pipelines, and large‑asset handling—areas where Git’s design shows strain.

What to watch next

  • ERSC Storage beta launch: The private beta will reveal concrete performance metrics and API designs for the new backend.
  • Funding and roadmap: ERSC is backed by Amplify Partners; future funding rounds may accelerate feature development and community outreach.
  • Jujutsu roadmap: As von Zweigbergk splits his time between ERSC and the open‑source project, watch for updates on Jujutsu’s roadmap, especially regarding large‑file support and tighter integration with the upcoming storage layer.

East River Source Control launched in 2025 and is building version‑control platforms for both humans and machines. For more information, visit ersc.io.

Sources

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