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Madza
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What GIT GUI client do you use?

I used GitHub Desktop at first, tho moved away as I wanted some integrated solution. So I went with VS Code extension GitLens and I find version control much easier now.

I've heard of other solutions like GitKraken, SourceTree and Smart Git.
There are lots of GIT extensions, as well.

What GIT GUI client do you use and why?

Top comments (88)

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ecyrbe profile image
ecyrbe • Edited

I don't use a git gui, i'm far faster with command line.

It take a while to know the commands and options, but once you learn them you become much more productive.

It allows you to use git on any computer, help others fix their git mistakes.

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jacob87o2 profile image
Jacob B.

Having GUI doesn't disallow you from using CLI commands but does help with rendering the tree. The tree rendered in terminal looks awful and not very helpful.

Also, I find some actions to be faster and easier using GUI - for example reviewing and staging the changes.

So, I personally use both GUI (Fork) and git CLI.

I also use KDiff3 for resolving conflicts. Looks dated but works really well.

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thefern profile image
Fernando B 🚀

Add that cli feedback is a whole lot better than a gui client.

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louislow profile image
Louis Low

Terminal only

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madza profile image
Madza • Edited

Do you use any aliases to be more productive with git? 🤔

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louislow profile image
Louis Low • Edited

Oh yes, I created a few most frequently used Git commands with aliases in my .bashrc file. Usually, the shorthand commands not more than 6 letters.

# @file: .bashrc
alias gprn='du -hs $PWD/.git; git status; git pull; git gc --aggressive --prune=all; du -hs $PWD/.git'
alias gprna='find . -name .git -type d -execdir git gc --prune=all ";"'
alias gs='git status'
alias gpsh='du -hs $PWD/.git; git gc --aggressive --prune=all; du -hs $PWD/.git; git status; git push'
alias gcomp='du -hs $PWD/.git; git gc --aggressive --prune=all; du -hs $PWD/.git; git add .; git commit -m'
alias gclone='git clone'
alias gc='git checkout'
alias gcm='git commit -m'
alias gs='git status'
alias ga='git add --all'
alias gp='git pull --rebase'
alias gb='git branch -vv'
alias gr='git remote -v'
alias grt='git reset --hard'
alias gpub='git push origin publish'
alias grp='git rebase publish'
alias gdev='git push origin dev'
alias gd='git branch -D'
alias gm='git merge'
alias gh='git push'
alias gda='git branch | grep -v "develop" | grep -v "release" | xargs git branch -D'
alias gf='git fetch'
alias gl='git log -3'
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madza profile image
Madza

Nice list 🔥🔥🔥 Thanks for sharing with us ❤

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simonguillochon profile image
dondappr33

Hey ! Do you know ZSH has its own aliases for Git in CLI ?
github.com/ohmyzsh/ohmyzsh/wiki/Ch...

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louislow profile image
Louis Low

Yea, I know. But I am kinda married to Bash like forever (16 years). I don't think I would find any other partner.

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simonguillochon profile image
dondappr33

Weddings are increasingly rare so congratulations lol

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louislow profile image
Louis Low

Everything is weird these days.

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thefern profile image
Fernando B 🚀

These are my abbreviations in fish.

github.com/kodaman2/kubuntu-dotfil...

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kamo profile image
KAIDI

I use Fork , let's say it's very powerful and easy to use.
I tested gitkraken before, it's slow comparing with fork

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dkast profile image
Daniel Castillejo • Edited

I use Gitlens + Git Graph on VS Code.

I've also used SourceTree as a standalone git client in the past but a few months back I've switched to Fork and I'm pretty happy with it.

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ramyadhanush profile image
ramyaDhanush

How Git Graph works?

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jcsh profile image
Justin Ho

I use git in the terminal but added forgit which has syntax highlighting for diffs and log views

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jillejr profile image
Kalle Fagerberg • Edited

Yea forgit is a blessing. I enjoy using the terminal as-is but forgit's staging view is a huge blessing for me
forgit add

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jcsh profile image
Justin Ho

Damn that's a clean setup!
I never even got around to customizing my tmux tabs or the forgit colors haha

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jillejr profile image
Kalle Fagerberg

Haha not gonna lie, I just pulled the screenshot off github.com/wfxr/forgit#readme. Probably should've added a "credits to wfxr for image".

I'm actually not a user of tmux. But hey this actually gives me some energy to look into it :)

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jcsh profile image
Justin Ho

Ah I see, you should definitely check out tmux or any of its cousins.

I run a tmux session (instance) of it on my workstation and move around the house on my laptop ssh-ed and using the same tmux so I never lose what I was doing in multiple consoles.

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jillejr profile image
Kalle Fagerberg

Oh boy that sounds like a swell setup, thanks for sharing :)

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choroba profile image
E. Choroba

I use the command line in a terminal and magit in Emacs.

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pierrelegall profile image
Pierre Le Gall

If magit is the best Git GUI for many people today, we have to precise it is the best Git GUI for Emacs users only ;p

And, as an Emacs plugin (I should say Emacs package), note it is a Git pseudo-GUI because it is keyboard oriented. From my point of view, it is very nice compromise between power of a CLI and ergonomy of a GUI.

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Martin Frost

Same here. I've tried to use VS Code a bit, and in VS Code I've tried the edamagit plugin, which aims to be a magit version for VS Code. It seems promising.

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esquevin profile image
Guillaume Esquevin

I use git from terminal if I'm within one or gitlens if I'm on vscode.

But I've unlocked much more power from git through Gitup gitup.co which allow me to entirely rewrite a branch history and split commits in a better way, extracting exactly the lines I want in a given commit, and making my PR much easier to review for my colleagues.
I don't even wanna try to do this from command line. There are use case when a GUI is superior.

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Chris Justesen

I do this in the cli,

However I agree, with large amounts of files I will select vscode which also allows for partial staging of files.

But git add -i is a blessing in my day-to-day operations

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andreligne profile image
André

I'm using a plugin called vim-fugitive since it allows me to stay in my when writing commits or staging parts of a file.

For other things (e.g., pushing, rebasing, bisecting), I'm using the terminal. It takes some time to learn all the commands, but after that, it's worked out well for me. 😄

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Michael Currin • Edited

I started off learning git on the command-line so mostly fall back to that.

In VS Code and PyCharm, I'll use the GUI to change branches and commit. But for other stuff like viewing logs, doing a rebase, reset, push, etc. I use the command-line.

I do enjoy the IDEs I mention when it comes to resolving merge conflicts. PyCharm let's you see 3 views side by side and VS Code shows you a smart interactive layer on top of the plain text code which has <<< and >>> etc.

I haven't had a reason to download something else dedicated to Git / GitHub handling.

My git aliases for interest! :)

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Pablo Herrero • Edited

I prefer the terminal + aliases, but I have GitKraken for when “I don't see it". Why? I find it very intuitive to use and very clear, it can also be linked to various services. GitHub Desktop seems tedious to me. Gitlens is fine too.