this post was submitted on 07 Aug 2025
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I'm wondering if you use any (graphical) clients to manage your Git, and if so, what client you use.

I myself have to use git professionally across all 3 major OS-es, and I currently use Sourcetree on Windows and macOS, and the Git tools built-in into IntelliJ on Linux.

Have given MaGit a try, but just couldn't get all the shortcuts to stick in my mind.

Interested to hear your experiences!

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[–] jerkface@lemmy.ca 1 points 2 days ago

I will install emacs on a machine just to use magit.

[–] deadcatbounce@reddthat.com 13 points 6 days ago* (last edited 6 days ago) (1 children)

Off topic: day-after-day with these kinds of posts and especially the replies, I need Reddit less and less. That's a very good thing.

[–] TehPers@beehaw.org 2 points 4 days ago (1 children)

Sorry, guess the replies are too tame. Let me help you with that.

Anything more than the git CLI is a joke. Real developers should know how to raw-dog that thing. If you're not octopus merging your rebased branches to deploy to prod, you're just not a real developer.

(I use gitui)

[–] deadcatbounce@reddthat.com 1 points 2 days ago* (last edited 2 days ago)

Fair comment.

IANA developer at all. Mostly just keeping records of my dotfiles and odd bits I have playing with., and the experiments I try to run using branches. Sometimes I need a visual representation of the commits and hashes to make it easier to understand what I'm doing.

git is my only nemesis.

[–] tiredofsametab@fedia.io 1 points 3 days ago

I have tortoise git on a windows machine and GitHub desktop on a Mac. I do some things from the command line when I'm not feeling lazy.

[–] oantolin@discuss.online 2 points 4 days ago

I'm an Emacs users, so unsurprisingly I use magit, but perhaps surprisingly I use it sparingly, using Emacs's VC most of the time.

[–] bignose@programming.dev 10 points 6 days ago

Magit is what allowed me to finally commit to switching to Git full time.

It's such an excellent front-end for Git that I've known numerous workmates learn Emacs just to use Magit.

[–] lightnsfw@reddthat.com 7 points 6 days ago (1 children)

Is Vscode a git client?

No one take from me though idk what I'm doing when it comes to programming stuff.

[–] Guttural@jlai.lu 3 points 6 days ago

It is. Not as advanced as others but it still is nonetheless!

[–] spartanatreyu@programming.dev 7 points 6 days ago* (last edited 6 days ago) (3 children)

Fork !!!

It's hands down the best git client.

It's free as in: sublime text or winzip where they ask you once a month if you want to pay for it but you can just select: I'm still trying it out, and it gets out of your way.

  • It's got a well designed tree graph like in GitKraken except it doesn't lag
  • It's interactive rebasing is as smooth as JJ / LazyGit, so you can edit/rename/reorder your commits except you don't have to have to remember CLI flags since it has its own UI
  • It's lets you commit individual lines by selecting them instead of adding/removing whole hunks like Sourcetree except it isn't filled with paper cuts where a feature breaks in an annoying way for 2 years and you have to do extra steps to keep using it how you want.

And one killer feature that I haven't seen any other git clients handle: allowing me to stage only one side of the diff. As in: if I change a line (so it shows up as one removed line and one new line in git), I can decide to add the new line change while still keeping the old line.

So changing this:

doThing(1);

into this:

doThing(2);

Shows up in git as:

- doThing(1);
+ doThing(2);

But if I still want to keep doThing(1);, I don't have to go back into my code to retype doThing(1);, or do any manual copy-pasting. I can just highlight and add only doThing(2); to the staging area and discard the change to doThing(1);.

So now the code exists as:

doThing(1);
doThing(2);

Now with a one-liner example like this, we could always re-enter the code again. But for larger code changes? It's far easier to just highlight the code in the diff and say: yes to this and no to the other stuff.

And when you get used to it, it makes it really easy to split what would be large git commits into smaller related changes keeping your git history clean and easy to understand.

[–] ILikeTraaaains@lemmy.world 3 points 6 days ago (1 children)

I love Fork, bought the license to support the developer.

The only thing I don’t like is that there is no Linux version, asked the dev and he told me that the issue with Linux is that there are different distros with different GUI libraries so it would require multiple versions for Linux.

A bit saddened it I completely understand.

[–] spartanatreyu@programming.dev 2 points 3 days ago

I paid for it too!

It's the first piece of shareware I actually went out of my way to pay for because it was so good that I’d be genuinely pissed off if it died. I'd probably end up switching to pijul or something else for my projects if it ever did.


I've seen a bunch of people messing the windows version running in linux in the fork forums, so it may be coming in an unsupported capacity.

[–] fox2263@lemmy.world 2 points 6 days ago

I’ll second Fork, it’s been my go to for years! Maybe I’ll pay for it one day

[–] Guttural@jlai.lu 1 points 6 days ago (2 children)

In case you're interested, git add <files> -p allows you to do this on the command line. I use it daily.

[–] spartanatreyu@programming.dev 1 points 3 days ago

Yeah, I use it when ssh'd into a server, but it's just so awkward to use.

Sometimes it just really doesn't want to separate a hunk. Other times you want to stage all lines except one, and you have to do a million splits just to target the lines you want to keep.

It'd be far easier if you could just select the lines you want to affect. It's literally the first feature shown in lazygit's readme. I think half the reason that people use lazygit is that partial commits are so awkward to perform in most other clients.

Luckily Fork does it as well as lazygit

[–] Cyno@programming.dev 1 points 6 days ago

I still don't think it's nearly as convenient as being able to just see the changes side by side and click the one you want (or both). You can even easily modify the final outcome in the 3rd preview panel, in case you need to do a quick fix after a conflict resolution.

[–] whotookkarl@lemmy.dbzer0.com 6 points 6 days ago

CLI with some aliases for viewing commit history and branching, or less frequently an IDE plugin

[–] koala@programming.dev 1 points 5 days ago

When I learned Git I think there were not decent tools, so I got used to the command line.

I occasionally use gitk for reviewing my commits- it's nicer to see the files modified and be able to jump back and forth, although I get I could use git log -p instead.

I'm an Emacs user, but I don't use magit (!)

I like some of the graphical tools- some colleagues use Fork and I like it... but as I've already learned the CLI, I don't see the point for me.

I could use learning some jj because it automates some of the most tedious parts of my workflow, but I'm getting too old.

[–] PlexSheep 3 points 6 days ago

Lazy git most of the time, sourcegit for heavy duty stuff.

[–] locuester@lemmy.zip 1 points 5 days ago

Git Graph VS Code extension

I’ve used source tree, gitkraken, etc. this simple extension is just as good. I spend most my day with it

[–] locuester@lemmy.zip 1 points 5 days ago

Git Graph VS Code extension

I’ve used source tree, gitkraken, etc. this simple extension is just as good. I spend most my day with it

[–] oplkill@lemmy.world 2 points 6 days ago
[–] Timberfang@pawb.social 2 points 6 days ago

I use VSCode and SourceGit. SourceGit is similar to Fork (which I've used before), but it's FOSS and cross-platform (Windows/macOS/Linux).

[–] bananabread@lemmy.zip 3 points 6 days ago

GitKraken ❤️

If not present, vscode + gitlens

[–] thecoffeehobbit@sopuli.xyz 2 points 6 days ago

Vscode and gitlens for routine stuff, and then just CLI when push comes to shove and I need some more advanced feature.

[–] cupcakezealot@piefed.blahaj.zone 2 points 6 days ago (1 children)

i loved fork on windows but i'm too lazy to set up wine to try and get it to work now i just use git cola and the cli.

[–] zarlin@lemmy.dbzer0.com 1 points 6 days ago

I use SourceGit as a Fork alternative on Linux, it's pretty similar

[–] dil@lemmy.zip 1 points 6 days ago

Tried idea community edition, honestly not bad, like vs code slightly more even tho with an extension or two you can make how they function very similar. Wanted to use idea because it matched the gtk theme, but if I was gonna use an extension for vs code like navigation might as well use vs code. Both easy to use with git as a dabbler.

[–] TomasEkeli@programming.dev 1 points 6 days ago

vscode with edamagit and the cli

[–] Shareni@programming.dev 1 points 6 days ago

Lazygit and magit

[–] Xuntari@programming.dev 1 points 6 days ago

LazyGit and GitKraken. I try to use LazyGit as much as possible, but a few things are easier for me in GitKraken (as I'm more used to it).

[–] Cratermaker@discuss.tchncs.de 1 points 6 days ago

I made some automation in python for common git tasks and use the cli otherwise. I tried a couple like sourcetree and the built in automation for VS but they're either slow or lack features i'd like.

[–] cbazero@programming.dev 108 points 1 week ago (4 children)

The cli because it is consistent everywhere and has all fearures

[–] AdamBomb@lemmy.sdf.org 7 points 6 days ago

Same, because its UX is actually really good. Years ago when I was new to git, I tried to use Sourcetree to revert a merge commit, and it would just fail. When I tried it in the CLI, it still failed, but it told me how to fix it. (I needed to specify which parent)

That, plus it’s scriptable, plus I’m in the terminal a lot anyway. I’ll also use the IDE git client sometimes if that’s where I am at the moment.

[–] 0ops@piefed.zip 0 points 6 days ago

Jah, mein fearures

[–] killingspark@feddit.org 22 points 1 week ago* (last edited 1 week ago) (4 children)

The only thing I'm missing in the CLI is easy picking and choosing which change to include in a commit on a more fine grained basis than files. I sometimes have a changed file and the changes fix different issues and thus should get separate commits but with the CLI I can't easily select the changes to be staged. At least not AFAIK.

Edit: Richards law of posting something wrong to get fast correct answers seems to stay true, even on lemmy. Thanks for teaching me something today <3

[–] doeknius_gloek@discuss.tchncs.de 46 points 1 week ago (1 children)
[–] staircase@programming.dev 10 points 1 week ago (1 children)
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[–] BeigeAgenda@lemmy.ca 14 points 1 week ago

I mostly use git from the console.

  • git with a bunch of aliases for common operations and making the log pretty.
  • gitk when I need a UI to browse the history
  • kdiff3 as mergetool
[–] omgitsaheadcrab@sh.itjust.works 12 points 1 week ago (2 children)
[–] littleomid@feddit.org 3 points 6 days ago

Same. Magit 99% of the time and CLI for the one percent where I need to run an obscure command. Magit is genuinely one of the best things in Emacs besides org mode.

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[–] Kissaki@programming.dev 8 points 1 week ago* (last edited 1 week ago) (2 children)

TortoiseGit.

Through settings, I move the Show Log to the top context menu level, and it's my entry point to every Git operation.

I see a history tree to see and immediately understand commit and branch relationships and states. I can commit, show changes, diff, rebase interactive or not, push, fetch, switch, create branches and tags, squash and split commits, commit chunk-wise through "restet after commit", … And everything from a repo overview.

/edit: To add; other clients I tried never reached what I want from a UI/GUI, never reached TortoiseGit. Including IDE integrations where I'm already in the IDE; I prefer the separate better TortoiseGit.

GitButler is interesting for it's different approach, but when I tried it out the git auth didn't remember my key password. (Since trying out jj I found out it may have been due to disabled OpenSSH Service.)

[–] Creat@discuss.tchncs.de 1 points 6 days ago (1 children)

I have a love-hate relationship with it. Due to work reasons I'm more familiar than I want to be with tortoiseSVN, and the git version is similar enough to feel at home. But that's also it's biggest downfall: it does a lot of things the "SVN way" despite being a git client. The workflow can be kinda made to work, but it always feels like it's not a native git tool, because it isn't. I would go so far as to say that it encouragedrl bad habits on git, especially for those used to tortoiseSVN.

[–] Kissaki@programming.dev 1 points 5 days ago

What do you mean in particular?

The only thing that comes to mind for me is the "restore after commit" being a different chunk-add workflow than add --patch - but I don't think it's worse.

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[–] zarlin@lemmy.dbzer0.com 8 points 1 week ago* (last edited 1 week ago) (4 children)

Fork on windows, SourceGit on Linux, both have a similar UI layout to SourceTree, but are much faster/snappier.

I really like having a clear overview of the commit history, branches and current local state. I haven't figured out yet how to get such an "at a glance" overview in the CLI.

For advanced stuff the CLI is still very convenient.

[–] cnovel@jlai.lu 3 points 6 days ago

I second Fork, been using it for years and it's fast, able to handle multiple actions at once. Can't recommend it enough!

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