Top Related Projects
simple terminal UI for git commands
GitHub’s official command line tool
🙃 A delightful community-driven (with 2,300+ contributors) framework for managing your zsh configuration. Includes 300+ optional plugins (rails, git, macOS, hub, docker, homebrew, node, php, python, etc), 140+ themes to spice up your morning, and an auto-update tool that makes it easy to keep up with the latest updates from the community.
git-cola: The highly caffeinated Git GUI
It's Magit! A Git Porcelain inside Emacs.
Text-mode interface for git
Quick Overview
GitUI is a blazing fast terminal-based user interface for Git, written in Rust. It provides an intuitive and efficient way to interact with Git repositories directly from the command line, offering a visual alternative to traditional Git commands.
Pros
- Fast and responsive, thanks to its Rust implementation
- Intuitive and user-friendly interface for Git operations
- Cross-platform support (Linux, macOS, Windows)
- Customizable key bindings and color schemes
Cons
- Limited advanced Git features compared to GUI clients
- Steeper learning curve for users unfamiliar with terminal-based interfaces
- Requires Rust installation for building from source
Getting Started
To install GitUI, you can use one of the following methods:
-
Using Homebrew (macOS and Linux):
brew install gitui
-
Using Cargo (Rust package manager):
cargo install gitui
-
Download pre-built binaries from the GitHub releases page.
Once installed, navigate to a Git repository in your terminal and run:
gitui
This will launch the GitUI interface, where you can start managing your Git repository using the visual interface and keyboard shortcuts.
Competitor Comparisons
simple terminal UI for git commands
Pros of lazygit
- Written in Go, which may offer better performance and easier installation on some systems
- More feature-rich, including interactive rebase and submodule management
- Larger community and more frequent updates
Cons of lazygit
- Steeper learning curve due to more complex interface and features
- Larger resource footprint, which may impact performance on older systems
Code comparison
lazygit (Go):
func (gui *Gui) handleCommitConfirm() error {
message := gui.State.CommitMessage
if message == "" {
return gui.createErrorPanel(gui.Tr.NoCommitMessageErr)
}
return gui.GitCommand.Commit(message)
}
gitui (Rust):
fn draw_commit_message(&self, f: &mut Frame<B>, r: Rect) {
let input = Paragraph::new(self.input.as_str())
.block(Block::default().borders(Borders::ALL).title("Commit message"));
f.render_widget(input, r);
}
Both projects aim to provide a terminal-based interface for Git operations, but they differ in implementation language and feature set. lazygit offers more advanced features at the cost of complexity, while gitui focuses on simplicity and performance. The choice between them depends on user preferences and system requirements.
GitHub’s official command line tool
Pros of cli
- Official GitHub CLI tool with extensive GitHub-specific features
- Cross-platform support (Windows, macOS, Linux)
- Seamless integration with GitHub's web interface and API
Cons of cli
- Focused solely on GitHub, limiting its use for other Git hosting platforms
- Steeper learning curve for users unfamiliar with GitHub's ecosystem
- Larger installation size due to comprehensive feature set
Code comparison
cli:
gh repo create my-project --public
gh issue create --title "Bug report" --body "Description of the bug"
gh pr create --title "New feature" --body "Implementation details"
gitui:
# No direct equivalent for repository creation
# Navigate to the "Issues" tab and use interactive UI to create an issue
# Navigate to the "Pull Requests" tab and use interactive UI to create a PR
Summary
cli is the official GitHub CLI tool, offering extensive GitHub-specific features and seamless integration with the platform. It's cross-platform but focused solely on GitHub. gitui, on the other hand, is a lightweight, fast TUI for Git operations, not limited to any specific Git hosting service. While cli provides a command-line interface, gitui offers an interactive terminal-based UI for Git operations.
🙃 A delightful community-driven (with 2,300+ contributors) framework for managing your zsh configuration. Includes 300+ optional plugins (rails, git, macOS, hub, docker, homebrew, node, php, python, etc), 140+ themes to spice up your morning, and an auto-update tool that makes it easy to keep up with the latest updates from the community.
Pros of Oh My Zsh
- Extensive plugin ecosystem with over 300 built-in plugins
- Large and active community, providing frequent updates and support
- Customizable themes for enhancing terminal appearance
Cons of Oh My Zsh
- Can slow down terminal startup time, especially with many plugins enabled
- Primarily focused on Zsh shell, limiting its use for other shell environments
- Steeper learning curve for users new to shell customization
Code Comparison
Oh My Zsh (theme customization):
ZSH_THEME="robbyrussell"
plugins=(git docker kubectl)
source $ZSH/oh-my-zsh.sh
GitUI (key binding configuration):
[[keybindings]]
key = "ctrl-r"
action = "reset_commit"
[[keybindings]]
key = "ctrl-u"
action = "stash_open"
Oh My Zsh is a framework for managing Zsh configurations, offering a wide range of plugins and themes to enhance the terminal experience. GitUI, on the other hand, is a blazing-fast terminal user interface for Git, focusing on efficient Git operations rather than general shell enhancements.
While Oh My Zsh provides extensive customization options for Zsh, GitUI offers a streamlined, keyboard-driven interface specifically for Git operations. Oh My Zsh may impact terminal performance, whereas GitUI is designed for speed and efficiency in Git workflows.
git-cola: The highly caffeinated Git GUI
Pros of git-cola
- Cross-platform GUI with a more traditional desktop application interface
- Offers a wider range of features, including visual diff, blame, and stash management
- Supports custom GUI actions and keyboard shortcuts for advanced users
Cons of git-cola
- Larger resource footprint and slower startup time
- Steeper learning curve due to more complex interface and numerous features
- Requires Python and Qt dependencies, which may be challenging for some users to set up
Code comparison
git-cola (Python):
from PyQt5 import QtWidgets
from cola import qtutils
class GitColaMainWindow(QtWidgets.QMainWindow):
def __init__(self, parent=None):
super(GitColaMainWindow, self).__init__(parent)
# ... more initialization code ...
gitui (Rust):
use tui::widgets::{Block, Borders};
use tui::layout::{Layout, Constraint, Direction};
fn ui<B: Backend>(f: &mut Frame<B>, app: &App) {
let chunks = Layout::default()
.direction(Direction::Vertical)
.constraints([Constraint::Percentage(10), Constraint::Percentage(90)].as_ref())
.split(f.size());
// ... more UI rendering code ...
}
It's Magit! A Git Porcelain inside Emacs.
Pros of Magit
- Deeply integrated with Emacs, offering a seamless Git workflow within the editor
- Extensive feature set, covering almost all Git operations and advanced functionalities
- Highly customizable and extensible through Emacs Lisp
Cons of Magit
- Steep learning curve, especially for users not familiar with Emacs
- Limited to Emacs environment, not usable as a standalone application
Code Comparison
Magit (Emacs Lisp):
(magit-status)
(magit-stage-file "file.txt")
(magit-commit-create)
GitUI (Rust):
let mut app = App::default();
app.draw()?;
app.process_events()?;
Key Differences
- GitUI is a standalone TUI application, while Magit is an Emacs package
- GitUI focuses on simplicity and ease of use, while Magit offers more advanced features
- Magit leverages Emacs' extensibility, whereas GitUI is more self-contained
- GitUI is written in Rust, potentially offering better performance for large repositories
Use Cases
- Magit: Ideal for Emacs users who want deep Git integration within their editor
- GitUI: Suitable for users who prefer a lightweight, standalone Git interface across different environments
Both tools aim to improve Git workflow efficiency, but cater to different user preferences and environments.
Text-mode interface for git
Pros of tig
- Written in C, which can offer better performance and lower resource usage
- Longer development history and more mature codebase
- Extensive customization options through configuration files
Cons of tig
- Less intuitive user interface for newcomers
- Limited mouse support, primarily keyboard-driven
- Slower development pace and less frequent updates
Code comparison
tig (C):
static enum status_code open_repo(void)
{
const char *gitdir;
gitdir = getenv("GIT_DIR");
if (!gitdir)
gitdir = ".git";
return git_repository_open(&repo, gitdir);
}
gitui (Rust):
pub fn new(repo_path: &Path) -> Result<Self> {
let repo = Repository::open(repo_path)?;
let head = repo.head()?;
let branch = head.shorthand().unwrap_or("HEAD").to_string();
Ok(Self { repo, branch })
}
Both examples show repository opening functions, but gitui's Rust implementation is more concise and leverages Rust's error handling. tig's C code requires more explicit error checking and memory management.
gitui offers a more modern, user-friendly interface with full mouse support and a faster development cycle. It's written in Rust, providing memory safety and concurrency benefits. However, tig has a longer history, more customization options, and potentially better performance due to its C implementation.
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GitUI provides you with the comfort of a git GUI but right in your terminal
Table of Contents
- Features
- Motivation
- Benchmarks
- Roadmap
- Limitations
- Installation
- Build
- FAQs
- Diagnostics
- Color Theme
- Key Bindings
- Sponsoring
- Inspiration
- Contributing
- Contributors
1. Features Top â²
- Fast and intuitive keyboard only control
- Context based help (no need to memorize tons of hot-keys)
- Inspect, commit, and amend changes (incl. hooks: pre-commit,commit-msg,post-commit,prepare-commit-msg)
- Stage, unstage, revert and reset files, hunks and lines
- Stashing (save, pop, apply, drop, and inspect)
- Push / Fetch to / from remote
- Branch List (create, rename, delete, checkout, remotes)
- Browse / Search commit log, diff committed changes
- Responsive terminal UI
- Async git API for fluid control
- Submodule support
- gpg commit signing with shortcomings (see #97))
2. Motivation Top â²
I do most of my git work in a terminal but I frequently found myself using git GUIs for some use-cases like: index, commit, diff, stash, blame and log.
Unfortunately popular git GUIs all fail on giant repositories or become unresponsive and unusable.
GitUI provides you with the user experience and comfort of a git GUI but right in your terminal while being portable, fast, free and opensource.
3. Benchmarks Top â²
For a RustBerlin meetup presentation (slides) I compared lazygit
,tig
and gitui
by parsing the entire Linux git repository (which contains over 900k commits):
Time | Memory (GB) | Binary (MB) | Freezes | Crashes | |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
gitui | 24 s â | 0.17 â | 10 | No â | No â |
lazygit | 57 s | 2.6 | 25 | Yes | Sometimes |
tig | 4 m 20 s | 1.3 | 0.6 â | Sometimes | No â |
4. Road(map) to 1.0 Top â²
These are the high level goals before calling out 1.0
:
5. Known Limitations Top â²
- no sparse repo support (see #1226)
- no git-lfs support (see #1089)
- credential.helper for https needs to be explicitly configured (see #800)
Currently, this tool does not fully substitute the git shell, however both tools work well in tandem.
The priorities for gitui
are on features that are making me mad when done on the git shell, like stashing, staging lines or hunks. Eventually, I will be able to work on making gitui
a one stop solution - but for that I need help - this is just a spare time project for now.
All support is welcomed! Sponsors as well! â¤ï¸
6. Installation Top â²
GitUI is in beta and may contain bugs and missing features. However, for personal use it is reasonably stable and is being used while developing itself.
Various Package Managers
Install Instructions
Arch Linux
pacman -S gitui
Fedora
sudo dnf install gitui
Gentoo
Available in dm9pZCAq overlay
sudo eselect repository enable dm9pZCAq
sudo emerge --sync dm9pZCAq
sudo emerge dev-vcs/gitui::dm9pZCAq
openSUSE
sudo zypper install gitui
Homebrew (macOS)
brew install gitui
MacPorts (macOS)
port install gitui
Winget (Windows)
winget install gitui
Scoop (Windows)
scoop install gitui
Chocolatey (Windows)
choco install gitui
Nix (Nix/NixOS)
Nixpkg
nix-env -iA nixpkgs.gitui
NixOS
nix-env -iA nixos.gitui
Termux (Android)
pkg install gitui
Anaconda
conda install -c conda-forge gitui
Release Binaries
Available for download in releases
Binaries available for:
Linux
- gitui-linux-x86_64.tar.gz (linux musl statically linked)
- gitui-linux-aarch64.tar.gz (linux on 64 bit arm)
- gitui-linux-arm.tar.gz
- gitui-linux-armv7.tar.gz
All contain a single binary file
macOS
- gitui-mac.tar.gz (arm64)
- gitui-mac-x86.tar.gz (intel x86)
Windows
- gitui-win.tar.gz (single 64bit binary)
- gitui-win.msi (64bit Installer package)
Nightly Builds
see NIGHTLIES.md
7. Build Top â²
Requirements
-
Minimum supported
rust
/cargo
version:1.70
- See Install Rust
-
To build openssl dependency (see https://docs.rs/openssl/latest/openssl/)
- perl >= 5.12 (strawberry perl works for windows https://strawberryperl.com/)
- a c compiler (msvc, gcc or clang, cargo will find it)
-
To run the complete test suite python is required (and it must be invocable as
python
)
Cargo Install
The simplest way to start playing around with gitui
is to have cargo
build and install it with cargo install gitui --locked
. If you are not familiar with rust and cargo: Getting Started with Rust
Cargo Features
trace-libgit
enable libgit2
tracing
works if libgit2
built with -DENABLE_TRACE=ON
this feature enabled by default, to disable: cargo install --no-default-features
8. FAQs Top â²
see FAQs page
9. Diagnostics Top â²
To run with logging enabled run gitui -l
.
This will log to:
- macOS:
$HOME/Library/Caches/gitui/gitui.log
- Linux using
XDG
:$XDG_CACHE_HOME/gitui/gitui.log
- Linux:
$HOME/.cache/gitui/gitui.log
- Windows:
%LOCALAPPDATA%/gitui/gitui.log
10. Color Theme Top â²
gitui
should automatically work on both light and dark terminal themes.
However, you can customize everything to your liking: See Themes.
11. Key Bindings Top â²
The key bindings can be customized: See Key Config on how to set them to vim
-like bindings.
12. Sponsoring Top â²
13. Inspiration Top â²
- lazygit
- tig
- GitUp
- It would be nice to come up with a way to have the map view available in a terminal tool
- git-brunch
14. Contributing Top â²
See CONTRIBUTING.md.
15. Contributors Top â²
Thanks goes to all the contributors that help make GitUI amazing! â¤ï¸
Wanna become a co-maintainer? We are looking for you!
Top Related Projects
simple terminal UI for git commands
GitHub’s official command line tool
🙃 A delightful community-driven (with 2,300+ contributors) framework for managing your zsh configuration. Includes 300+ optional plugins (rails, git, macOS, hub, docker, homebrew, node, php, python, etc), 140+ themes to spice up your morning, and an auto-update tool that makes it easy to keep up with the latest updates from the community.
git-cola: The highly caffeinated Git GUI
It's Magit! A Git Porcelain inside Emacs.
Text-mode interface for git
Convert designs to code with AI
Introducing Visual Copilot: A new AI model to turn Figma designs to high quality code using your components.
Try Visual Copilot