Features

📜 File History View

• Sidebar Tree View: Browse commit history for any file in a dedicated sidebar view
• Commit Details: See commit hash, author, date, and message for each commit
• Quick Navigation: Click on any commit to view the file at that point in time

🔍 Diff Viewer

• Compare with Previous: Compare any commit with its parent
• Compare with Working Directory: See changes between a commit and your current working directory
• Compare Two Commits: Select any two commits to see differences
• Visual Diff: Opens in VSCode's built-in diff viewer with side-by-side comparison

👤 Git Blame Annotations

• Inline Annotations: See who last modified each line of code
• Code Lens Integration: Click on annotations to jump to the commit
• Toggle On/Off: Enable or disable blame annotations with a single command

🧭 Commit Navigation

• Parent/Child Navigation: Navigate through commit relationships
• File History: Track how a file evolved over time
• Commit Filtering: Filter commits by date, author, or message

Usage

View File History

1. From Explorer: Right-click on any file → Show Minimal Git file history
2. From Editor: Right-click in the editor → Show Minimal Git file history
3. Command Palette: Press Ctrl+Shift+P (or Cmd+Shift+P on Mac) → Minimal Git file history: Show Minimal Git file history

The history will appear in the "Minimal Git file history" sidebar view.

Compare Versions

1. Compare with Previous Commit:

   • Right-click on a file → Compare with Previous Commit
   • Or select a commit in the history view and use the context menu

2. Compare with Working Directory:

   • Right-click on a file → Compare with Working Directory
   • See what changed since the last commit

3. Compare Two Commits:

   • Right-click on a file → Compare Two Commits
   • Select the two commits from the quick pick menu

Git Blame

1. Toggle Blame:

   • Right-click in the editor → Toggle Git Blame
   • Or use Command Palette → Minimal Git file history: Toggle Git Blame

2. View Commit from Blame:

   • Click on any blame annotation (Code Lens) to jump to that commit

View File at Specific Commit

• Click on any commit in the history view
• Or use Command Palette → Minimal Git file history: View File at Commit

Configuration

Open Settings (Ctrl+, or Cmd+,) and search for Minimal Git file history:

Available Settings

• minimalGitFileHistory.maxCommits (number, default: 100)

  • Maximum number of commits to fetch when viewing file history
  • Higher values may slow down loading for files with extensive history
  • Range: positive integer

• minimalGitFileHistory.blameEnabled (boolean, default: true)

  • Enable Git Blame annotations by default
  • When enabled, CodeLens annotations show commit information above each line
  • Can be toggled on/off via the command palette or context menu

• minimalGitFileHistory.dateFormat (string, default: "relative")

  • Date format for commit display in the history view
  • Options:
    • "relative": Shows relative time (e.g., "2 hours ago", "3 days ago")
    • "absolute": Shows absolute date and time (e.g., "2024-01-15 14:30:00")
    • "both": Shows both relative and absolute (e.g., "2 hours ago (2024-01-15 14:30:00)")

• minimalGitFileHistory.autoLoadOnFileSelect (boolean, default: false)

  • Automatically load Git history in the Minimal Git file history panel when a file is selected or opened in the editor
  • When enabled, the history panel updates automatically as you switch between files
  • Recommended for users who frequently review file history

Example Configuration

You can configure these settings in your settings.json:

{
  "minimalGitFileHistory.maxCommits": 200,
  "minimalGitFileHistory.blameEnabled": true,
  "minimalGitFileHistory.dateFormat": "both",
  "minimalGitFileHistory.autoLoadOnFileSelect": true
}

Commands

All commands are available via Command Palette (Ctrl+Shift+P / Cmd+Shift+P):

• Minimal Git file history: Show Minimal Git file history - Show commit history for current file
• Minimal Git file history: Toggle Git Blame - Enable/disable Git Blame annotations
• Minimal Git file history: Compare with Previous Commit - Compare file with previous commit
• Minimal Git file history: Compare with Working Directory - Compare file with working directory
• Minimal Git file history: Compare Two Commits - Compare two selected commits
• Minimal Git file history: View File at Commit - View file at specific commit
• Minimal Git file history: Refresh - Refresh the history view

Requirements

• VSCode 1.80.0 or higher
• Git installed and available in PATH
• A Git repository (initialized with git init or cloned)

Installation

1. Open VSCode/Cursor
2. Go to Extensions view (Ctrl+Shift+X / Cmd+Shift+X)
3. Search for "Minimal Git file history"
4. Click Install
5. Reload the window if prompted

How It Works

The extension uses Git commands to:

• Fetch commit history with git log
• Get file contents at specific commits with git show
• Generate diffs with git diff
• Show blame information with git blame

All Git operations are performed in the background, and results are cached for performance.

Keyboard Shortcuts

You can customize keyboard shortcuts in Keybindings (Ctrl+K Ctrl+S / Cmd+K Cmd+S):

• Search for minimalGitFileHistory to see all available commands
• Assign your preferred shortcuts

Troubleshooting

No commits found

• Make sure you're in a Git repository
• Check that the file has been committed at least once
• Verify Git is installed: run git --version in terminal

Git commands failing

• Ensure Git is in your system PATH
• Check repository permissions
• Try running git status in terminal to verify repository state

Blame not showing

• Make sure minimalGitFileHistory.blameEnabled is set to true in settings
• The file must be tracked by Git
• Try refreshing the editor or toggling blame off and on again

Contributing

Contributions are welcome! Please feel free to submit a Pull Request.

Release Process

This extension is automatically published to both VS Code Marketplace and Open VSX Registry (for Cursor) via GitHub Actions when a new version tag is pushed.

For detailed release instructions, see RELEASE.md.

License

MIT License

Author

WaYdotNET (Carlo Bertini)

Website: www.waydotnet.com

Acknowledgments

Inspired by JetBrains IDE's Local History and Git History features.