GitPlace

Git workspaces, projects and history — all in one place.

A local-first VS Code extension for managing Git projects, workspaces, worktrees, local setup stashes and commit history without leaving your editor.

🚀 What is GitPlace?

GitPlace brings your Git projects and development workspaces into one focused place inside VS Code. Instead of repeatedly switching between terminals, folders, Git commands and VS Code windows, GitPlace gives you a structured way to organize projects and workspaces and quickly move between them.

It is designed around a local-first approach — your repository and workspace data stays on your machine while GitPlace works with the Git repositories you already have locally.

🚀 Getting Started

Install GitPlace Install GitPlace from the VS Code Marketplace, or install a .vsix package manually.
Open GitPlace Open the GitPlace view from the VS Code Activity Bar.
Create a Project Register an existing Git repository as a GitPlace project.
Create a Workspace Create a workspace from your project. GitPlace creates an isolated Git worktree for the workspace.
Start Developing Open the workspace and manage your development workflow directly from GitPlace.

✨ Features

🗂️ Project Management

Keep your Git repositories organized in one place.

Create and manage projects
Edit project information
Open project locations
Favorite important projects
Quickly navigate between projects

🧩 Git Workspaces

Create isolated development workspaces using Git worktrees.

Create workspaces from projects
Create branch-based workspaces
Open workspaces in the current or a new VS Code window
Keep multiple development tasks isolated
Favorite frequently used workspaces
Manage workspace lifecycle from one place

One repository. Multiple isolated workspaces.

🔄 EW Sync — Sync With Base

Keep a workspace aligned with its base branch without manually repeating Git commands. GitPlace performs sync in two controlled phases:

Current Branch
      │
      ▼
Update Upstream
      │
      ▼
Merge Base Branch
      │
      ▼
Workspace Synced

Phase 1 — Update Current Branch

If the current branch has an upstream configured, GitPlace updates it from that upstream.

Remote upstream → pull with --no-rebase
Local upstream → merge the local upstream branch
No upstream → safely skip this phase

GitPlace does not automatically infer an upstream from a similarly named remote branch.

Phase 2 — Merge Base

GitPlace checks whether the configured base branch is already contained in the current branch. If not, it merges the resolved base branch.

Supports fast-forward merges
Prefers the available remote base ref
Falls back to the local base branch when appropriate
Local-only branches can still sync with their base
No unnecessary merge is performed when already up to date

🛡️ Conflict-safe

Conflicts are never silently resolved. If a conflict occurs while updating the current branch:

Pull Current
     │
     ▼
  Conflict
     │
     └── STOP

GitPlace preserves the working-tree conflict state and clearly identifies which phase caused the conflict. Your changes stay in your hands. GitPlace never silently resets or discards them.

📦 Local Setup Stash

Keep environment and bootstrap-related local setup changes associated with a workspace.

Associate a local setup stash with a workspace
Apply a selected stash
Preserve the underlying Git stash when clearing the association
Resolve stashes using their commit SHA instead of relying only on stash@{0}
Protect against stale stash indexes
Detect workspace state before applying
Preserve conflicts for manual resolution

GitPlace does not automatically delete a stash after applying it.

🔎 Commit History

Explore repository history directly inside VS Code.

Search commits
Filter by branch
Filter by author
Filter by date range
Debounced search
Paginated results
Refresh history
Inspect commit details
Navigate through commit activity

Author discovery uses Git history rather than relying only on a small recent-commit window. Find the commit you're looking for without leaving your workspace.

📂 Git Changes & Diffs

Quickly inspect working-tree changes from GitPlace.

View changed files
Open files
Inspect diffs
Navigate between changes
Use existing VS Code editing and diff experiences

🛡️ Local-First & Privacy

GitPlace is designed around a local-first architecture. Your repository data is processed locally on your machine for GitPlace's core Git and workspace functionality.

GitPlace does not transmit the following to GitPlace servers as part of its current local Git/workspace functionality:

🔒 Repository source code
📝 Commit history
🌿 Branch information
📁 File paths
.env contents
🔑 Credentials
🧩 Workspace metadata

Project and workspace information is stored in VS Code's local extension storage. GitPlace logs remain in the local GitPlace output channel.

When you use Git operations such as fetch, pull, or clone, Git communicates with the remotes already configured for your repository. This is Git's normal behavior and is not GitPlace uploading your repository data to GitPlace servers.

Your repositories stay yours.

🔐 Git Safety

GitPlace is designed to make Git operations predictable and recoverable.

Secure Git execution

Git commands are executed using structured arguments:

spawn('git', args)

rather than shell-string concatenation. This helps prevent command-injection risks from branch names, paths, remotes and other user-controlled values.

Workspace protection

GitPlace includes safeguards for:

🔒 Workspace trust
📍 Repository path validation
🛡️ Git command validation
🔄 Operation state tracking
🔐 Operation locking
💾 Workspace state recovery
⚠️ Conflict detection
🗑️ Destructive-operation confirmation
📁 Disk deletion revalidation

GitPlace does not automatically reset, clean, or discard your work to make an operation succeed.

🧠 Workspace Model

GitPlace uses a simple model:

Project
  ├── Workspace
  │     └── Git Worktree
  ├── Workspace
  │     └── Git Worktree
  └── Workspace
        └── Git Worktree

Project: A registered Git repository root.
Workspace: An isolated Git worktree linked to a branch.
Base Branch: An optional branch used as the synchronization baseline for a workspace.

By default, worktrees are created under: <repository>/.worktree/<branch>

⚡ Why GitPlace?

GitPlace is designed for developers who frequently work with:

Multiple branches
Multiple features
Parallel development tasks
Git worktrees
Large repositories
Local development setup files
Long Git histories
Multiple VS Code windows

Instead of managing everything through a collection of terminal commands and folders:

Git commands + Repository folders + VS Code windows + Worktrees + Stashes + Git history

GitPlace brings these workflows together:

┌──────────────────┐
│     GitPlace     │
└────────┬─────────┘
         │
 ┌───────┼───────┐
 │       │       │
Projects Workspaces Git History
 │       │       │
Worktrees Commit Search
 │       │       │
 └───────┼───────┘
         │
  Local Git Repo

🧰 Requirements

VS Code: 1.85.0 or newer
Git: Installed and available on PATH

Check Git:

git --version

📖 Common Workflows

Create a Feature Workspace

Project ↓ Create Workspace ↓ Select / Create Branch ↓ Git Worktree ↓ Open Workspace

Sync With Base

Workspace ↓ Sync ↓ Update Current Branch ↓ Merge Base ↓ Synced

Search Commit History

Commit History ↓ Search ↓ Filter ├── Branch ├── Author └── Date ↓ Commit Details

Manage Local Setup

Workspace ↓ Local Setup ↓ Save / Apply ↓ Continue Development

🤝 Feedback & Support

Found a bug, have an idea, or want to suggest an improvement? We'd love to hear from you.

🌐 Website: gitplace.dev
𝕏 X / Twitter: @_GitPlace
💼 LinkedIn: GitPlace
📸 Instagram: @gitplace.dev
📧 Email: contact@gitplace.dev
🐛 Issues & Support: gitplace.dev

When reporting a problem, please include:

GitPlace version
VS Code version
Operating system
Git version
Steps to reproduce
Relevant error message

Please never include passwords, tokens, credentials, .env contents, or private repository data in an issue report.

🔒 Privacy

For more information about how GitPlace handles data:

Privacy Policy: https://gitplace.dev/privacy

GitPlace's core Git/workspace functionality is local-first. Repository source code, commit history, branch information, file paths, .env contents, credentials and workspace metadata are not transmitted to GitPlace servers as part of the current local Git/workspace functionality.

📄 License

GitPlace is licensed under the MIT License. See LICENSE.txt for details.