Git Lean

A minimalist Git extension for Visual Studio Code.

Built out of frustration with bloated Git GUIs. Git Lean does less, on purpose: no tabs, no toolbars, no settings pages. Just the branch list and the commit graph, side by side.

Git is a great tool, and this extension covers the everyday workflow for most developers. For anything beyond that, the terminal is your best friend, not 300 buttons crammed into the IDE.

Features

Branch Panel

A clean sidebar listing all local and remote branches.

• The active branch is highlighted with a distinct icon and ✓ marker
• Click a branch to filter the commit graph to its history
• Ctrl/Cmd+click to toggle individual branches into a multi-selection; Shift+click to select a range
• Right-click a branch for quick actions:
  • Checkout
  • Delete
  • Create new branch from here
  • Rebase current branch onto this
  • Merge into current branch
• Right-click a multi-selected set of branches to delete them all at once
• Right-click a folder to delete all branches inside it
• Pull, push, and force-push controls in the panel toolbar

Commit Graph

A canvas-rendered git graph visualising your repository's full commit history.

• Multi-lane graph with colour-coded branch lines
• Ref badges inline with each commit — HEAD, local branches, remotes, tags
• HEAD commit rendered with a distinct ring marker
• Filter the graph by selecting a branch in the panel
• Click a commit to select it; Shift-click to select a range
• Right-click a single commit to:
  • View full commit details (diff, author, dates)
  • Copy commit hash
  • Cherry-pick
  • Revert
  • Reset to this commit (soft / mixed / hard)
  • Edit commit message inline

• Right-click a selected range of commits to:
  • Interactive rebase — reorder commits by dragging, and set a per-commit action: pick, reword, squash, fixup, or drop
  • Squash into a single commit
  • Cherry-pick the entire range

Why

Most Git extensions for VS Code are either too heavy or too opinionated. I wanted something that stays out of the way.

The final straw was multi-commit operations. Squashing a range of commits directly from the graph, without dropping to the terminal, isn't available in Git Graph, isn't in the built-in VS Code Git support, and appears to be locked behind GitLens Pro. I could not live with that.

Requirements

• Visual Studio Code 1.75.0 or later
• Git installed and available in your PATH
• An open folder that is a Git repository

Getting Started

1. Install Git Lean from the VS Code Marketplace
2. Open a folder that contains a Git repository
3. Click the Git Lean icon in the Activity Bar to open the panel
4. The Branches view and Commit Graph appear side by side

Tip: Click any branch in the Branches panel to filter the graph to that branch's history.

Extension Settings

Git Lean has no configuration settings — everything works out of the box.

Tech

Built with the VS Code Extension API, TypeScript, React 19, and the Canvas API for graph rendering. No external runtime dependencies.

Contributing

Contributions are welcome. See CONTRIBUTING.md for development setup, architecture notes, and the pull request process.

License

See LICENSE for terms.