Lore
Epic Games' version control system designed for large binary files and game assets.
Liked as a Git-like version control system better suited to large binary files than Git or Git LFS,1234 with centralized locking and on-demand sparse checkouts built in.56 Caveats include design docs that read as LLM-generated7 and doubts that it offers enough over Git or existing data versioning tools to justify switching.89
Why people recommend it
Large binary files · 3
Commenters see it as better equipped than Git for large binary files like PDFs, images and 3D models.
“Looks very git-ish. But probably better equipped for large binary files.”
“This looks really good.”
Show 1 more
“Lore has a lot of the requirements already built-in, like centralized locking (better than SVN), and it's better suited for for binary files.”
Avoids Git · 2
Commenters welcome that it is not built on Git, unlike hybrid approaches such as Git LFS.
“So I'm happy to see this vcs doesn't use it.”
“Lore seems really cool!”
Perforce alternative · 2
Seen as a possible Perforce alternative, with centralized locking described as better than SVN's.
“It’s great to finally see a possible alternative to Perforce.”
“Lore has a lot of the requirements already built-in, like centralized locking (better than SVN), and it's better suited for for binary files.”
Sparse checkouts · 1
On-demand hydration and sparse checkouts let users fetch only the assets they need.
“it could be a massive win both for speed and efficiency of downloads but also for conserving disk space on developer machines.”
Self-hostable · 1
One commenter self-hosts it for gamedev projects.
“I self host Lore for my gamedev projects.”
Caveats and dissent
LLM-generated docs · 1
One commenter found the system design doc long, redundant and apparently LLM-written, which hurt confidence.
“Anyway it's probably fine software and I am genuinely going to give it a shot for a usecase I have involving large image files.”
Switching overhead · 1
A commenter doubts it offers enough over Git to justify the extra overhead.
“But unless it offers a LOT more than git, the extra overhead”
Crowded field · 1
Mature data versioning tools like Pachyderm, LakeFS and Oxen already use similar techniques.
“Lore seems really cool!”
Often compared with
Who recommends it in their own words
From the makers not counted in the ranking
“I think it solves some problems, especially for games and content teams, that are long over due to be solved.”
“I've started building Lore because none of the existing "memory" solutions solved my real problem”
Threads where it came up
- Epic Games announces Lore version control system 9 mentions
- A hosted platform for Epic Game's lore VCS 1 mention
- Version Control for Everything 1 mention
- Ask HN: Alternatives to GitHub 1 mention
- Why memory is not enough: you need context management 1 mention
Data: lore.json. Quotes are verbatim; the verdict and theme labels are written by a model from these comments, and every clause links to its sources.
All comments 11
“Lore looked interesting for this purpose.”
“I self host Lore for my gamedev projects.”
“So I'm happy to see this vcs doesn't use it.”
“it could be a massive win both for speed and efficiency of downloads but also for conserving disk space on developer machines.”
“But unless it offers a LOT more than git, the extra overhead”
“Lore has a lot of the requirements already built-in, like centralized locking (better than SVN), and it's better suited for for binary files.”
“Lore seems really cool!”
“Anyway it's probably fine software and I am genuinely going to give it a shot for a usecase I have involving large image files.”
“It’s great to finally see a possible alternative to Perforce.”
“This looks really good.”
“Looks very git-ish. But probably better equipped for large binary files.”