GitEverywhere
Find lost commits, deleted branches, dropped stashes, and anything hidden in your git history.
GitEverywhere searches places that normal git tools don't — reflog, dangling commits, fsck objects, FETCH_HEAD, git notes, special heads, and the full object store. If it's still in your .git folder, GitEverywhere will find it.
Ever force-pushed over a commit? Deleted a branch? Dropped a stash? Did a rebase and lost work? GitEverywhere finds it all.
Features
- Three search modes: content (git log -S), commit message (git log --grep), filename/path
- Three scan depths: Fast (reachable), Deep (+dangling, fsck, notes), Full (entire object store)
- Live-streaming results — results appear in real time as sources are scanned
- Multi-repo support — switch between repositories in the toolbar dropdown
- Open files from any commit — working tree version or read-only from the commit
- Compare/diff any file against the current workspace version
- Rescue actions — checkout to new branch, cherry-pick, restore file, copy SHA
- Case-insensitive search toggle
- Virtual scroll — handles thousands of results without lag
How to Use
- Click the GitEverywhere icon in the Activity Bar — the search panel opens automatically.
- Or press Ctrl+Alt+G / run
GitEverywhere: Search Git History from the Command Palette.
- Choose a search mode, type your query, select a scan depth, and press Enter.
- Results stream in real time. Click any result to see full commit details.
- From the detail panel: Open or Compare files, create rescue branches, cherry-pick, or restore files.
Scan Depths
| Depth |
What is scanned |
Typical speed |
| Fast |
All reachable commits (branches), reflog, stash |
Seconds |
| Deep |
Everything in Fast, plus dangling objects (fsck), FETCH_HEAD, git notes, special heads, worktree heads |
10–30 seconds |
| Full |
Everything in Deep, plus the entire object store (all loose objects and pack files) |
Slow on large repos — prompted with a warning if the repo has over 100,000 objects |
Search Modes
| Mode |
What it searches |
| Content |
Searches the diff content of every commit (uses git log -S) — finds commits that added or removed the string |
| Commit message |
Searches commit messages (uses git log --grep) |
| Filename / path |
Searches file paths recorded in each commit's tree — useful for finding when a file existed or was renamed |
From the Commit Detail panel you can:
- Open — open the file from the commit (working tree version if available, otherwise read-only from the commit)
- Compare — diff the commit version against the current workspace file
- Restore file — restore a specific file from the commit into the working tree
- Checkout to new branch — creates a new branch at the selected commit
- Cherry-pick — applies the commit's changes to the current branch
- Copy SHA — copies the full commit SHA to the clipboard
- Show in terminal — runs
git show in a dedicated terminal
FAQ
Nothing found?
Try a deeper scan depth. Fast only scans reachable commits; Deep adds dangling objects and special refs; Full scans everything. Also check your query — Content search is case-sensitive by default (toggle with GitEverywhere: Toggle Case-Insensitive Search).
Why are some results shown with a warning icon?
Results from non-reachable sources (reflog, stash, dangling commits) may be garbage-collected by git at any time (git gc). Consider creating a rescue branch to preserve important ones.
Full scan is taking too long.
Cancel the search with the stop button, then try Deep depth instead. Full scan walks every object in the repository and can be slow on repos with millions of objects.
Multiple repositories in workspace?
Use the repository dropdown in the toolbar to switch between them.
MIT License
