GitChronicle

Rewind your Git history — explore commits, visualize file changes, analyze dependencies, generate AI summaries, and take notes, all inside VSCode.

Features

Commit Log

Browse your full Git history with powerful filters: date range, author, and include/exclude keywords. Scroll through commits instantly without leaving your editor.

Changed File Tree

Select any commit and see every changed file organized in a directory tree. Each file shows its change status (Added / Modified / Deleted) at a glance.

Code Diff Viewer

View file-level unified diffs with syntax highlighting powered by Shiki, using the same TextMate grammars as VSCode itself.

Dependency Canvas

Visualize import/require relationships between changed files as an interactive node-edge graph. Zoom, pan, and select nodes to explore how files connect.

Supported languages: JavaScript/TypeScript, Python, Go (other file types appear as nodes without dependency edges).

Intra-file Symbol Dependency Canvas

Inspect the internal structure of a single file by visualizing functions, classes, variables, types, and imported symbols as a symbol graph. Hover and click symbols to explore calls, references, inheritance, and implementation relationships, then open the code panel to jump to the relevant lines.

Supported languages: JavaScript/TypeScript (.js .jsx .ts .tsx .mjs .cjs .mts .cts), Python, Go.

AI Summary

Generate markdown summaries of your work using your local AI CLI (Claude, Gemini, or Codex). Summaries are streamed in real time, saved to a local path, and reused instantly on revisit — no repeated API calls.

• File-level summary — summarizes the diff of a single file
• Commit-level summary — summarizes all changes in a commit at once
• Regenerate — re-run AI generation on demand with an overwrite confirmation
• Q&A — ask follow-up questions about any summary; answers stream in real time and are appended to the saved .md file

Note Editor

Keep a commit-scoped markdown note alongside your analysis. Paste markdown or Mermaid snippets copied from other panels, and your notes auto-save with no explicit save action needed. Mermaid code blocks render as diagrams in the preview.

Requirements

• VSCode 1.85.0 or later
• A Git repository open in your workspace
• (Optional) A local AI CLI installed and configured — claude, gemini, or codex

Usage

1. Open the Command Palette (⌘+Shift+P / Ctrl+Shift+P)
2. Run GitChronicle: Open
3. Browse commits → select a commit → explore changed files, diffs, dependencies, symbol graphs, AI summaries, and notes

Extension Settings

The following settings can be configured in settings.json:

The in-extension settings screen (⚙ icon) exposes additional options not available in settings.json:

• AI provider registration — detect and register installed CLI tools; only one provider can be active at a time
• Model selection — choose separate models for summary generation and Q&A per provider

Per-project isolation: active provider, model choices, and save path are workspace-scoped — each project keeps its own configuration. CLI registration is shared globally across all projects.