VSCode Git Revision Graph

A VSCode extension that visualizes a Git repository's commit DAG (branches, merges, tags) as an SVG graph, inspired by TortoiseGit's "Revision Graph" feature.

The UI follows VS Code's own display language setting automatically — Japanese, Simplified Chinese, Spanish, Brazilian Portuguese, Russian, Korean, French, German, and Traditional Chinese are included today.

Installation

Install from the Marketplace — search for "Git Revision Graph" in VSCode's Extensions view, or run:

code --install-extension tmatma.vscode-git-revision-graph

Alternatively, install from a .vsix file:

1. Get a .vsix: download the vsix-v<version>-build<N> artifact from a CI run on GitHub (it's a zip; unzip it to get the .vsix file), or build one yourself (see docs/DEVELOPMENT.md).
2. Install it — don't double-click the file (.vsix is also Visual Studio's extension package extension, so Windows may open it with the wrong application). Instead:
   • From the command line: code --install-extension vscode-git-revision-graph-<version>.vsix
   • Or in VSCode: Extensions view → ... menu → "Install from VSIX..." → select the file

Using Remote-SSH (or Dev Containers/WSL)? This extension runs in the remote extension host, not the local one, since it shells out to git in the workspace. Running code --install-extension/install.sh from a plain ssh session on the remote host is not reliable: whatever code is first in that session's PATH may be an unrelated local install on the remote machine, or resolve to nothing at all — either way, the extension doesn't end up where the Remote-SSH connection actually looks for it, and VS Code reports it as installed locally but "disabled ... defined to run in the Remote Extension Host". Instead, any of:

• From a shell on the remote host (e.g. scripted over ssh, or a plain terminal there): copy the .vsix and scripts/install-remote-ssh.sh over and run the script — it finds the running VS Code Server's own CLI shim under ~/.vscode-server directly, rather than relying on PATH. Needs a VS Code window to have connected to that host at least once already (that's what creates the shim).
• Install it normally on your local machine first (Marketplace or a .vsix, as above) — once connected via Remote-SSH, the Extensions view then offers a one-click "Install in SSH: <host>" button; or
• Run "Install from VSIX..." from the Command Palette of the Remote-SSH-connected window itself (not a separate terminal) — that always targets the extension host you're actually connected to.

Note that "Install in SSH: <host>" installs the exact same version already installed locally (whatever .vsix you sideloaded, or whichever Marketplace version you have) — it doesn't fetch a different or newer one. If you install/uninstall on one side, the other side's copy is unaffected until you explicitly repeat the action there too; the two are entirely independent installs that happen to share a version number.

Usage

1. Open a folder that's a Git repository.
2. Run the "Show Revision Graph" command from the Command Palette (Ctrl+Shift+P / Cmd+Shift+P), click the branch icon in the Source Control view's title bar, or click the graph icon in the Activity Bar and press Show Revision Graph there.
3. The commit graph opens in a new tab as an SVG, scrolled/zoomed to the current branch (shown in red — the checked-out branch itself, not a separate "HEAD" label).

Toolbar, along the top of the panel:

• Scope: All branches / Local branches / Current branch / From..To range. For a range, leave To blank for HEAD, and From blank to go from the very start of history.
• Show branches and merges: on by default. A commit that's neither a branch/merge point nor referenced by any branch/tag is never shown as its own node either way — only where the DAG actually branches or merges is ever drawn. What this toggles is whether a merge unreachable from any branch/tag, and not needed to connect ones that are, gets pruned too: off shows only merges relevant to something you can see; on shows every merge, matching TortoiseGit's own default.
• Show all tags: when off, a tag alone doesn't stop a commit from being hidden by the collapsing above; when on, every tagged commit is kept regardless.
• Refresh: re-applies the current settings (mainly useful after typing into From/To, which otherwise apply on blur/Enter).
• Checkout…: opens a QuickPick listing every local and remote branch — type to filter, arrow keys to move the selection, Enter to check it out. Always a plain, no-options checkout (no force/merge/new branch); for more control, right-click a specific node in the graph instead.
• Export SVG / Export PNG: save the full graph (not just the currently visible/zoomed area) to a file. PNG export rasterizes in the browser and isn't theme-matched (colors fall back to their default values); it also has a size ceiling from the browser's canvas limits — on a very large repo, use Export SVG instead (vector, no size limit).

Navigating the graph:

• Drag to pan.
• Mouse wheel to pan, Ctrl (Cmd on macOS) + wheel to zoom, centered on the cursor.
• A minimap in the bottom-right corner shows the whole graph with a rectangle marking the current view — click or drag anywhere on it to jump there (zoom level is kept).
• Hover a node for its full hash, author, date, and commit message.
• Click a node to select it; Ctrl (Cmd on macOS) + click a second node to select it too.
• Right-click a node for:
  • Checkout (unless it's already the current branch) — opens a "Switch / Checkout" panel (target branch/tag/commit is fixed to whatever you clicked; create a new branch, track, force, merge local changes, or update submodules, TortoiseGit-style).
  • Create branch here… / Create tag here… — prompts for a name (and, for a tag, an optional message; leaving it empty makes a lightweight tag instead of an annotated one), warning first if a branch/tag with that name already exists. Creating a branch doesn't switch to it automatically — you're offered a "Switch to" action afterward.
  • Copy ref name(s), if it has any refs (every ref on the node, as full refs/heads/... paths, one per line).
  • Copy full hash.
  • Copy commit info — the same text git show -s would print for that commit (hash and ref decorations, author, date, and full message).
  • With two nodes selected, right-clicking either of them also offers Compare, which opens a "Changed Files" panel (added/deleted line counts per file); click a file there to view its diff in VSCode's native diff editor.
  • Compare with default branch — the same "Changed Files" panel, against whatever the repo's default branch is (origin/HEAD, or a local main/master if that isn't set). Offered on any single node, no second selection needed.
  • Compare with current branch — the same "Changed Files" panel, against whatever's currently checked out (HEAD), regardless of the repo's default branch. Also offered on any single node.
  • Right-click a specific local branch's ref chip (not a remote branch or tag, and not just anywhere on the node) for Rename (prompts for the new name, warning first if a branch with that name already exists) or Delete (asks for confirmation first). Rename is offered on the current branch too — unlike Delete, git doesn't refuse to rename the branch you're on.

Development

See docs/DEVELOPMENT.md for build/dev setup and implementation notes.

License

GPLv2 — see LICENSE.