Changeline – Changelists, Shelf & Git Log for VS Code

Changeline brings the Git workflow known from JetBrains IDEs (PhpStorm, IntelliJ IDEA, WebStorm, …) to VS Code: the Commit tool window with changelists and partial commits, the Git tool window with the log and its commit graph, the branches popup, the three-way merge dialog, shelf, interactive rebase, annotate and the many small dialogs in between.

It talks to the git executable directly and works next to (or instead of) VS Code's built-in Git support.

Screenshots

Git log

Branches popup

Three-way merge

Interactive rebase

Push dialog

Where to find what

Keyboard shortcuts

Always available:

Enable changeline.jetbrainsKeymap for the JetBrains defaults: ⌘K commit, ⇧⌘K push, ⌘T update project, ⌘D diff, ⌥⌘Z rollback, ⌘9 log, ⌘0 commit tool window, ⌃V VCS popup (macOS), Ctrl+Shift+` branches. Note that ⌘K replaces VS Code's ⌘K chord prefix while this is on.

Settings

All settings live under changeline.* (open the Settings UI and search for "Changeline"). The most important ones:

• changeline.commit.useStagingArea – staging area instead of changelists
• changeline.diff.viewer – jetbrains (default) or native
• changeline.update.method – ask, merge or rebase
• changeline.push.protectedBranches – branches that cannot be force-pushed
• changeline.autoFetch.interval – background fetch in minutes
• changeline.annotate.* – what annotations show and how they are colored

How partial commits work

Changelist mode never touches your real index when committing. Changeline builds the commit in a temporary index (GIT_INDEX_FILE) from HEAD plus the included files; for files with excluded chunks it writes a blob containing only the included chunks. Afterwards the index entries of the committed paths are synchronized with the new HEAD, so the rest of your staged work stays as it was.

Differences to JetBrains IDEs

• VS Code has no modal dialogs for extensions. Dialogs started from the Git log or the Commit tool window open as a modal overlay inside that view, dialogs with a single text or choice field (e.g. the reset type) use VS Code's quick input, and the remaining dialogs, or overlays that do not fit into a small view, open as an editor tab. Escape cancels, Enter confirms.
• The diff viewer is read-only apart from its chunk actions; Jump to Source (F4) opens the editable file, Open in VS Code Diff Editor edits in place. The merge window's result is editable per change block.
• Changelists are stored per workspace (workspaceState), the shelf in the extension's workspace storage.
• Local History is an IDE feature, not part of Git, and is not included.

FEATURES.md lists every JetBrains Git feature with where to find it in Changeline and how it is tested. Screenshots of the real VS Code window are in docs/screenshots.

Languages

The user interface is available in English and German and follows VS Code's display language (Configure Display Language). In German, commands, settings, views, messages and dialogs are translated; Git terms such as commit, push, stash, shelf and changelist stay as they are.

Platforms

All test suites run on macOS and Linux. Windows has not been tested on a real machine; only the Windows path handling is covered by unit tests.

Privacy

Changeline sends no telemetry. It runs your git executable locally; git itself contacts your remotes when you fetch, pull or push. Changeline calls the GitHub or GitLab API only for its hosting features (pull / merge requests, Share Project, Create Gist, Sync Fork, cloning from your repository list). GitHub sign-in uses VS Code's accounts; GitLab and other tokens are kept in VS Code's secret storage.

Licenses

Changeline is released under the MIT License. The licenses of the bundled third-party libraries (highlight.js, markdown-it, Preact, the Codicons font and others) are in dist/ThirdPartyNotices.txt inside the extension.

Changeline is an independent project and is not affiliated with or endorsed by JetBrains. JetBrains, IntelliJ IDEA, PhpStorm and WebStorm are trademarks of JetBrains s.r.o.; they are named here only to describe the workflow Changeline follows.

Development

npm install
npm run build          # bundles extension and webviews into dist/
npm run test:unit      # parsers, diff, merge, graph, Windows paths + integration tests against real repositories, askpass,
                       # mock GitHub/GitLab APIs and read-only checks of the real public APIs (CHANGELINE_OFFLINE=1 skips them)
npm run test:e2e       # runs the extension inside a downloaded VS Code with an isolated Git configuration:
                       # suite.js through commands, ui.js clicks the webviews and quick picks via the DevTools protocol,
                       # locale.js checks the German texts with the display language set to German
node out/test/e2e/runShots.js docs/screenshots   # screenshots of the real UI via the DevTools protocol
npm run package        # creates changeline-<version>.vsix

test-harness/index.html?view=log|diff|merge|commitMessage|dialog|push|rebase|conflicts|compare renders every webview with mock data in a normal browser (serve the repository root with any static file server).