Git'o

Native VS Code sidebar for local Git repositories, worktrees, branches, tags, changes, and history.

Desktop VS Code only. Git'o runs beside the repository and requires VS Code's built-in Git extension.

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What works

• Clone through VS Code's built-in Git: Clone flow.
• Show only repositories belonging to the opened folder or multi-root workspace.
• Create and switch branches from actions inside the native Branches tree.
• Create feature worktrees through VS Code's Git API, list every linked worktree together, see clean/WIP/conflict state without opening it, rename local display labels, and open it in the current or a new window.
• Distinguish current, local-only, remote-only, tracked, ahead, behind, and diverged branches with native icons, semantic colours, labels, and tooltips.
• Prune selected local branches missing from every remote after a native fetch-prune and confirmation.
• Warn when the current branch is behind its configured upstream or its VS Code-detected source branch.
• Create and switch local tags from actions inside the native Tags tree.
• Automatically compare local tags with the default remote, or choose another remote manually, without fetching or pushing them.
• Write commit messages and commit through VS Code's built-in Git flow.
• Push branches and tags, choose a target, or force push through VS Code's native Git commands and safety settings.
• Highlight commit subjects beyond the recommended 50-character limit without blocking the commit.
• Browse, stage, unstage, discard, and resolve working-tree changes below the commit composer in one Changes view.
• Resolve conflicts through a plain-language guide that names the real branches and commit roles, then opens VS Code's native Merge Editor.
• Follow the guided Graph workflow for paged history, search, commit actions, sync previews, visual file history, and live worktree state.
• See subtle, theme-aware author, age, and commit context on the active line and in VS Code's status bar; open its commit, copy its hash, jump to file history, or toggle the annotation.
• Refresh automatically when VS Code's Git state changes.

Tag icons use native theme colours: green is synced, yellow is local only, blue is remote only, and red means the same tag name points to different commits.

Branch icons use native theme colours: green is current and synced, purple is ahead, yellow is behind or untracked, red is diverged, and blue is remote only. Text and icons repeat every state for accessibility.

Getting started

VS Code opens Git'o's native Get started with Git'o walkthrough after installation. Its five short journeys cover every feature group without replacing the real interface:

1. Repositories, branches, tags, remote comparison, and pruning.
2. Changes, staging, commits, pushes, and conflict guidance.
3. Graph search, reusable diffs, sync previews, and guarded history actions.
4. Feature worktrees, status, labels, and window controls.
5. File history, current-line details, status-bar blame, and inline annotations.

Git'o opens this walkthrough as a full editor tab the first time the extension starts. Run Git'o: Open Getting Started from the Command Palette or choose ? in the Git view to reopen it later.

For Trace a file or line, focus any tracked file and place the cursor on the line you want. Return to the walkthrough: both links remember and use that file context.

Explore the Graph

Open a local repository, choose Git'o in the Activity Bar, then expand Graph.

1. Click a commit to inspect its changed files and diff in one reusable tab.
2. Use Git'o: Toggle Inline / Side-by-Side Diff in that tab to change layout in place. VS Code's Split Editor Right button intentionally opens a second editor group.
3. Hover a commit and choose ••• to compare it, copy its hash, create a branch or local tag, inspect it detached, apply or revert it, move the current branch, or undo HEAD while keeping changes.
4. Search repository history with text or author:, message:, ref:, and file: filters. Choose Load 50 more to page through older commits.
5. Choose Sync · upstream to preview incoming and outgoing commits, changed paths, and predicted conflicts before Pull or Push.
6. Right-click a file and choose Git'o: Show File History. Linked worktrees appear above the graph with their branch and clean, WIP, or conflict state.

Potentially destructive graph actions require confirmation. Actions that need a clean working tree remain unavailable until changes are committed, stashed, or discarded.

Run locally

Open this folder in desktop VS Code and press F5.

Git'o uses VS Code's bundled Git API for standard operations and credentials. Commit-specific actions missing from that API run the local Git executable with argument arrays, confirmation, timeouts, and no shell. Git'o stores no credentials.

Linked worktrees default to .gito-worktrees/<repository>/<worktree> beside the primary checkout, never inside it. Set gito.worktrees.storageRoot to an absolute path or a ~ path to keep every repository's worktrees under one global folder. Git'o stores custom worktree labels locally in VS Code; labels do not rename branches or folders.

Validate changes

npm run verify:local

This is the complete pull-request gate: reusable pinned ACT validation on Linux, stable and minimum VS Code tests against the exact VSIX, CodeQL, both dependency audits, native macOS package testing, Gitleaks, and release versioning. It prunes only dangling Docker images.

Codex actions use the repository-local gito-sanitized-local environment. It replaces inherited Git identity, npm/GitHub CLI credential locations, home/cache paths, tokens, and SSH-agent access before running project commands. Run Bootstrap from Codex environments or:

bash .codex/environments/setup.sh

After pushing the exact clean commit and opening a conventionally titled pull request:

npm run verify:local:report

That posts one required Local validation status. Normal pushes and pull requests do not consume GitHub-hosted workflow minutes. See CONTRIBUTING.md and the architecture.

For a repeatable local product benchmark against a generated 100-commit repository:

npm run benchmark:product

Release budgets: full-history search under 2 seconds, visual file history under 2 seconds, and linked-worktree WIP under 1 second. The local gate runs this benchmark.

Publish a release

After a pull request is squash-merged, open GitHub Actions → Release → Run workflow. Enter the exact 40-character SHA currently at main, then choose patch, minor, or major.

The workflow builds one versioned VSIX, verifies the exact bytes on Linux, macOS, Windows, and minimum VS Code, uploads CodeQL SARIF, creates a checksum-backed GitHub Release, then publishes those same bytes through the protected Marketplace environment. No release runs automatically on merge, and no Marketplace token belongs in the repository.

Current boundary

Cloud sharing, AI, pull-request management, and provider integration are intentionally outside this local-first slice. Local branch pruning is explicit and confirmed. Force push actions are isolated under Rewrite remote history; VS Code controls permission, confirmation, and force-with-lease behaviour.