Gitwe — Git Workflow Engine for VS Code

Start, finish, and inspect gitwe branching workflows (the classic git-flow-style preset, github flow, gitlab flow, or your own custom workflow definition) without leaving VS Code — from the Command Palette, the sidebar, the status bar, or a full dashboard.

This extension is a thin UI layer over the gitwe library — every action it performs (start, finish, merge, tag, delete) goes through the exact same domain rules and handlers as the gitwe CLI. There's no separate logic to keep in sync.

Features

Command Palette — every gitwe operation as a command: Gitwe: Start Branch..., Gitwe: Finish Branch..., Gitwe: Publish Branch..., Gitwe: Track Remote Branch..., Gitwe: Update Branch from Base..., Gitwe: Show Status, Gitwe: Show Branch Graph, Gitwe: Run Doctor, Gitwe: Validate Workflow Config..., Gitwe: Initialize Workflow..., plus advanced git operations — Gitwe: Pull, Gitwe: Push, Gitwe: Checkout Base Branch..., Gitwe: Sync Base Branches, Gitwe: Delete Branch..., Gitwe: List/Push/Delete Tag..., Gitwe: Show Commit Info..., Gitwe: Show Current Branch.
Gitwe menu — Gitwe: Menu... (default keybinding Shift+Alt+G, and the status bar item's click target) opens a Quick Pick with one submenu per configured branch type (Start/Finish/Publish/Update/Track/ Checkout/Delete), plus Base branches and Tags submenus — the git-flow UX from vscode-gitflow, driven dynamically by whatever branch types the active workflow defines instead of hard-coded Feature/Release/Hotfix/Support names.
Sidebar — two views: Branches (every configured branch type as a group, with its live branches underneath — click to check out, right-click for Finish / Publish / Update / Delete) and Tags (every git tag, right-click to push or delete).
Status bar — always-visible current branch and dirty/clean indicator; click it to open the Gitwe menu.
Dashboard (WebView GUI) — a single visual panel showing the active workflow, working-tree status, every branch type's rules, and a live branch graph, with Start / Pull / Push / Doctor buttons.
Reacts automatically to branch/tag changes made outside the extension (terminal git checkout, other extensions) by watching .git/HEAD and .git/refs.

See docs/todo.md for the roadmap this feature set was implemented from, and its remaining/optional items.

Requirements

Git installed and available on PATH.
A workspace folder containing a git repository.
The gitwe npm package. It's a declared dependency and is bundled inside the packaged .vsix (see "Building from source" below for why it isn't compiled into dist/extension.js like the rest of the extension).

If the repository hasn't been initialized with gitwe init yet, the extension evaluates the gitwe.workflow preset in memory so the sidebar, status bar, and commands work immediately; run Gitwe: Open Workflow Config File or gitwe init from a terminal to persist a workflow definition you can edit.

Settings

Setting	Default	Description
`gitwe.workflow`	`"classic"`	Built-in preset used until a workflow file exists: `classic` (git-flow style) \| `github` (GitHub Flow) \| `gitlab` (GitLab Flow)
`gitwe.configPath`	`""`	Path to a custom JSON/YAML workflow config, relative to the workspace folder. Overrides auto-discovery and `gitwe.workflow`.
`gitwe.defaultRootBranch`	`"main"`	Root branch used by Status and the branch graph
`gitwe.deleteAfterFinish`	`true`	Delete a branch after Finish merges it
`gitwe.pushAfterFinish`	`false`	Push to the remote after Finish completes
`gitwe.confirmFinish`	`true`	Ask for confirmation before finishing a branch

Multi-root workspaces

Commands operate on whichever workspace folder contains the active editor's file, or the only folder if there's just one.

Building from source

gitwe is published to GitHub Packages, not the public npm registry, so npm install needs a .npmrc that points the gitwe scope/package there with a GitHub token that has read:packages:

//npm.pkg.github.com/:_authToken=${GITHUB_TOKEN}
@idmdakhi:registry=https://npm.pkg.github.com

(Adjust the scope/registry line to whatever idmdakhi/gitwe actually publishes under — check the "Packages" panel on the gitwe repo for the exact install snippet.)

npm install
npm run watch    # or: npm run build
npm run package  # produces a .vsix via vsce

Press F5 in VS Code (with this folder open) to launch an Extension Development Host with the extension loaded.

Why gitwe isn't bundled into dist/extension.js: gitwe is pure ESM and, at runtime, resolves its built-in preset YAML files (.gitwe/preset/*.yaml) relative to its own package directory. Inlining its compiled output into the extension's single-file bundle would break that lookup, so esbuild.js marks gitwe as external and the extension loads it via a dynamic import() (the only way a CommonJS-loaded VS Code extension can load a pure-ESM dependency). .vscodeignore is set up to keep node_modules/gitwe, node_modules/js-yaml, and node_modules/argparse — but not the rest of node_modules — inside the packaged .vsix.

License

MIT

Gitwe — GitWorkflowEngine

Mohammad Amanalikhani