Picture this: You're heads-down, deep in your code, making updates to your soon-to-be viral app when... wait a minute: something's not right. Gah! It's broken, and there are a LOT of commits to read through.
Time to dig through your git history:
"fixed stuff"
"wip"
"please work"
"PLEASE WORK"
"ok now it works"
"nvm broken again"
Sound familiar? We've all been there. Those commit messages made perfect sense at 3 AM, but now...
What if there was another option? A way to visualize your app at each commit, so even when your git message is "please work v3 final FINAL for real this time I swear", you can see what was really happening at 2 AM.
GitViz (demo) transforms your git history into a visual story. After importing your repos, they automatically refresh when you return to the Repos page.
The magic happens in the main view. Instead of cryptic command line output:
git log awesome-project --oneline
def456g Update UI components
abc123d Add authentication system
You get a visual timeline where you can:
- Add screenshots to each commit to show what changed
- View branch information
- Read the full commit message with visual context
- Copy the git checkout command with one click - no more trying to copy those long hashes
When you find the working commit, click to copy the checkout command, and boom - you're back to that exact state. And since your repos refresh automatically, you'll always have the latest commits ready for visual documentation.
The Tech Behind GitViz
I built GitViz because I'm not perfect and I'm tired of wasting time sifting through git logs trying to find my favorite version. Yes, I shouldn't make it so hard on myself but things happen.
Using Lovable.dev to get started, GitViz uses React, TypeScript, and Tailwind CSS on the front end and Supabase on the back end with secure GitHub integration. After quick authentication, you can start adding images to your commits, with up to 10 images per commit to document your UI changes.
The process is straightforward: connect once, and GitViz handles the rest. Each time you return to the Repos page, you'll see your latest commits ready for visual documentation.
The Road Ahead
Q2 2024 is about enhancing your visual git experience with advanced visual diffing, smart commit suggestions (no more "wip" commits... okay, maybe fewer), and better search capabilities to find that one working commit faster.
By Q3 2024, we'll be adding AI-powered insight to help understand your commit patterns, terminal integration for when you miss the command line (it'll happen), and team collaboration features. Because every developer has their own git story to tell, and sometimes that story needs pictures.
Ready to Give Your Git History a Visual Upgrade?
Want to say goodbye to cryptic commit messages and hello to visual git history? Check out the GitViz demo and sign up to be notified when we launch. And don't worry - you can still write those "please work" commits at 3 AM. We'll just help you understand them better in the morning.
Top comments (4)
Good luck!
Thank you!
great product Dawn, def helpful <3
Thanks, Peter!