GitLens

GitLens supercharges the built-in Visual Studio Code Git capabilities. It helps you to visualize code authorship at a glance via inline Git blame annotations and code lens, seamlessly navigate and explore the history of a file or branch, gain valuable insights via powerful comparision commands, and so much more.

GitLens provides an unobtrusive blame annotation at the end of the selected line, a status bar item showing the commit author and date of the selected line, code lens showing the most recent commit and # of authors of the file and/or code block, and many commands for exploring commits and histories, comparing and navigating revisions, stash access, repository status, and more. GitLens is also highly customizable to meet your specific needs — find code lens intrusive or the selected line blame annotation distracting — no problem, it is easy to turn them off or change how they behave.

Previews

Featuring code lens, whole file inline blame annotations, and navigation and exploration via quick pick menus

Featuring selected line blame annotation and hovers, status bar commit details, quick pick menus, compare with previous, and more

Features

Git Blame Annotations

• Adds a blame annotation to the end of the selected line showing the commit id and message, with more details in a hover popup (optional, on by default)

• Adds a Toggle Blame Annotations command (gitlens.toggleBlame) with a shortcut of alt+b to toggle inline Git blame annotations for a whole file with multiple styles — compact, expanded, and trailing

  • Also adds a Show Blame Annotations command (gitlens.showBlame)

• Adds author and date blame information about the selected line to the status bar (optional, on by default)

  • By default clicking on the status bar shows a commit details quick pick menu with commands for comparing, navigating and exploring commits, and more

  • Provides customizable click behavior of the status bar — choose between one of the following

    • Toggle whole file blame annotations on and off
    • Toggle code lens on and off — only available if "gitlens.codeLens.visibility": "ondemand" is set
    • Compare the file with the previous commit
    • Show a quick pick menu with details and commands for the commit
    • Show a quick pick menu with file details and commands for the commit
    • Show a quick pick menu with the commit history of the file
    • Show a quick pick menu with the commit history of the current branch

Git Code Lens

• Adds code lens to the top of the file and on code blocks (optional, on by default)

  • Recent Change — author and date of the most recent commit for the file or code block
    • By default, clicking on the code lens shows a commit file details quick pick menu with commands for comparing, navigating and exploring commits, and more
  • Authors — number of authors of the file or code block and the most prominent author (if there is more than one)
    • By default, clicking on the code lens toggles the inline Git blame annotations on and off for the whole file
    • Will be hidden if the author of the most recent commit is also the only author of the file or block, to avoid duplicate information and reduce visual noise

• Provides customizable click behavior for each code lens — choose between one of the following

  • Toggle whole file blame annotations on and off
  • Compare the file with the previous commit
  • Show a quick pick menu with details and commands for the commit
  • Show a quick pick menu with file details and commands for the commit
  • Show a quick pick menu with the commit history of the file
  • Show a quick pick menu with the commit history of the current branch

• Adds a Toggle Git Code Lens command (gitlens.toggleCodeLens) with a shortcut of shift+alt+b to toggle the code lens on and off — only available if "gitlens.codeLens.visibility": "ondemand" is set

Powerful Comparison Tools

• Effortlessly navigate between comparisions via the alt+, and alt+. shortcut keys to go back and forth through a file's revisions

• Provides easy access to the following comparison commands via the Command Palette as well as in context via the many provided quick pick menus

• Adds a Directory Compare command (gitlens.diffDirectory) to open the configured Git difftool to compare directories between branches

• Adds a Compare File with... command (gitlens.diffWithBranch) to compare the active file with the same file on the selected branch

• Adds a Compare File with Next Commit command (gitlens.diffWithNext) with a shortcut of alt+. to compare the active file/diff with the next commit revision

• Adds a Compare File with Previous Commit command (gitlens.diffWithPrevious) with a shortcut of alt+, to compare the active file/diff with the previous commit revision

• Adds a Compare Line with Previous Commit command (gitlens.diffLineWithPrevious) with a shortcut of shift+alt+, to compare the active file/diff with the previous line commit revision

• Adds a Compare File with Working Tree command (gitlens.diffWithWorking) with a shortcut of shift+alt+w to compare the most recent commit revision of the active file/diff with the working tree

• Adds a Compare Line with Working Tree command (gitlens.diffLineWithWorking) with a shortcut of alt+w to compare the commit revision of the active line with the working tree

Navigate and Explore

• Adds a Search Commits command (gitlens.showCommitSearch) with a shortcut of alt+/ to search for commits by message, author, file(s), or commit id

• Adds commands to open files, commits, branches, and the repository in the supported remote services, currently BitBucket, GitHub, GitLab, and Visual Studio Team Services — only available if a Git upstream service is configured in the repository

  • Open Branch in Remote command (gitlens.openBranchInRemote) — opens the current branch commits in the supported remote service
  • Open Line Commit in Remote command (gitlens.openCommitInRemote) — opens the commit revision of the active line in the supported remote service
  • Open File in Remote command (gitlens.openFileInRemote) — opens the active file/revision in the supported remote service
  • Open Repository in Remote command (gitlens.openRepoInRemote) — opens the repository in the supported remote service

• Adds a Show Current Branch History command (gitlens.showQuickRepoHistory) with a shortcut of shift+alt+h to show a paged branch history quick pick menu of the current branch for exploring its commit history

  

  • Provides entries to Show Commit Search and Open Branch in <remote-service> when available
  • Navigate back to the previous quick pick menu via alt+left arrow, if available
  • Navigate pages via alt+, and alt+. to go backward and forward respectively

• Adds a Show Branch History command (gitlens.showQuickBranchHistory) to show a paged branch history quick pick menu of the selected branch for exploring its commit history

  • Provides the same features as Show Current Branch History above

• Adds a Show File History command (gitlens.showQuickFileHistory) to show a paged file history quick pick menu of the active file for exploring its commit history

  

  • Provides entries to Show Branch History and Open File in <remote-service> when available
  • Navigate back to the previous quick pick menu via alt+left arrow, if available
  • Navigate pages via alt+, and alt+. to go backward and forward respectively

• Adds a Show Commit Details command (gitlens.showQuickCommitDetails) to show a commit details quick pick menu of the most recent commit of the active file

  

  • Quickly see the set of files changed in the commit, complete with status indicators for adds, changes, renames, and deletes
  • Provides entries to Copy to Clipboard, Directory Compare, Open Changed Files, Open File in <remote-service> when available, and more
  • Navigate back to the previous quick pick menu via alt+left arrow, if available
  • Use the alt+right arrow shortcut on an entry to execute it without closing the quick pick menu, if possible — commands that open windows outside of VS Code will still close the quick pick menu unless "gitlens.advanced.quickPick.closeOnFocusOut": false is set
  • Use the alt+right arrow shortcut on a file entry in the Changed Files section to preview the current revision of the while leaving the quick pick menu open
    • NOTE: Once vscode issue #10568 is resolved this will change to preview the comparison of the current revision with the previous one

• Adds a Show Line Commit Details command (gitlens.showQuickCommitFileDetails) with a shortcut of alt+c to show a file commit details quick pick menu of the most recent commit of the active file

  

  • Provides entries to Show Commit Details, Show File History, Compare with..., Copy to Clipboard, Open File, Open File in <remote-service> when available, and more
  • Navigate back to the previous quick pick menu via alt+left arrow, if available
  • Use the alt+right arrow shortcut on an entry to execute it without closing the quick pick menu, if possible — commands that open windows outside of VS Code will still close the quick pick menu unless "gitlens.advanced.quickPick.closeOnFocusOut": false is set

• Adds a Show Repository Status command (gitlens.showQuickRepoStatus) with a shortcut of alt+s to show a repository status quick pick menu for visualizing the current repository status

  

  • Quickly see upstream status (if an Git upstream is configured) — complete with ahead and behind information
    • If you are ahead of the upstream, an entry will be shown with the number of commits ahead. Chosing it will show a limited branch history quick pick menu containing just the commits ahead of the upstream
    • If you are behind the upstream, an entry will be shown with the number of commits behind. Chosing it will show a limited branch history quick pick menu containing just the commits behind the upstream
  • Quickly see all working changes, both staged and unstaged, complete with status indicators for adds, changes, renames, and deletes
  • Provides entries to Show Stashed Changes, Open Changed Files, and Close Unchanged Files
  • Use the alt+right arrow shortcut on an entry to execute it without closing the quick pick menu, if possible — commands that open windows outside of VS Code will still close the quick pick menu unless "gitlens.advanced.quickPick.closeOnFocusOut": false is set
  • Use the alt+right arrow shortcut on a file entry in the Staged Files or Unstaged Files sections to preview the working file while leaving the quick pick menu open
    • NOTE: Once vscode issue #10568 is resolved this will change to preview the comparison of the working file with the previous revision

• Adds a Show Stashed Changes command (gitlens.showQuickStashList) to show a stashed changes quick pick menu for exploring your repository stash history

  

  • Provides entries to Stash Changes

  • Navigate back to the previous quick pick menu via alt+left arrow, if available

  • Chosing a stash entry shows a stash details quick pick menu which is very similar to the commit details quick pick menu above

    

    • Quickly see the set of files changed in the stash, complete with status indicators for adds, changes, renames, and deletes
    • Provides entries to Copy Message to Clipboard, Directory Compare, and Open Changed Files
    • Provides entries to Apply Stashed Changes and Delete Stashed Changes — both require a confirmation
    • Navigate back to the previous quick pick menu via alt+left arrow, if available
    • Use the alt+right arrow shortcut on an entry to execute it without closing the quick pick menu, if possible — commands that open windows outside of VS Code will still close the quick pick menu unless "gitlens.advanced.quickPick.closeOnFocusOut": false is set
    • Use the alt+right arrow shortcut on a file entry in the Changed Files section to preview the current revision of the while leaving the quick pick menu open
      • NOTE: Once vscode issue #10568 is resolved this will change to preview the comparison of the current revision with the previous one

• Adds a Show Last Opened Quick Pick command (gitlens.showLastQuickPick) with a shortcut of alt+- to quickly get back to where you were when the last GitLens quick pick menu closed

• Adds a Open File History Explorer command (gitlens.showFileHistory) to show a file history explorer (peek style) to visualize the history of a file

  • Likely to be deprecated in a future release, add your voice to #66 if you feel it should not be removed

• Adds a Open Blame History Explorer command (gitlens.showBlameHistory) to show a blame history explorer (peek style) to visualize the blame history of a file or code block

  • Likely to be deprecated in a future release, add your voice to #66 if you feel it should not be removed

And More

• Adds a Copy Commit ID to Clipboard command (gitlens.copyShaToClipboard) to copy the commit id (sha) of the active line to the clipboard

• Adds a Copy Commit Message to Clipboard command (gitlens.copyMessageToClipboard) to copy the commit message of the active line to the clipboard

• Adds a Open Changed Files command (gitlens.openChangedFiles) to open any files with working tree changes

• Adds a Close Unchanged Files command (gitlens.closeUnchangedFiles) to close any files without working tree changes

• Adds a Apply Stashed Changes command (gitlens.stashApply) to chose a stash entry to apply to the working tree from a quick pick menu

• Adds a Stash Changes command (gitlens.stashSave) to save any working tree changes to the stash — can optionally provide a stash message

Insiders

Add "gitlens.insiders": true to your settings to join the insiders channel and get early access to upcoming features. Be aware that because this provides early access expect there to be issues.

Extension Settings

GitLens is highly customizable and provides many configuration settings to allow the personalization of almost all features

Name	Description
gitlens.insiders	Opts into the insiders channel -- provides access to upcoming features
gitlens.outputLevel	Specifies how much (if any) output will be sent to the GitLens output channel
gitlens.blame.annotation.activeLine	Specifies whether and how to show blame annotations on the active line. off - no annotation. inline - adds a trailing annotation to the active line. hover - adds hover annotation to the active line. both - adds both inline and hover annotations
gitlens.blame.annotation.activeLineDarkColor	Specifies the color of the active line blame annotation to use with a dark theme. Must be a valid css color
gitlens.blame.annotation.activeLineLightColor	Specifies the color of the active line blame annotation to use with a light theme. Must be a valid css color
gitlens.blame.annotation.highlight	Specifies whether and how to highlight blame annotations. none - no highlight. gutter - adds a gutter icon. line - adds a full-line highlight. both - adds both gutter and line highlights
gitlens.blame.annotation.style	Specifies the style of the blame annotations. compact - groups annotations to limit the repetition and also adds author and date when possible. expanded - shows an annotation on every line
gitlens.blame.annotation.author	Specifies whether the committer will be shown in the blame annotations. Applies only to the expanded & trailing annotation styles
gitlens.blame.annotation.date	Specifies whether and how the commit date will be shown in the blame annotations. off - no date. relative - relative date (e.g. 1 day ago). absolute - date format specified by gitlens.blame.annotation.dateFormat. Applies only to the expanded & trailing annotation styles
gitlens.blame.annotation.dateFormat	Specifies the date format of how absolute dates will be shown in the blame annotations. See https://momentjs.com/docs/#/displaying/format/ for valid formats
gitlens.blame.annotation.message	Specifies whether the commit message will be shown in the blame annotations. Applies only to the expanded & trailing annotation styles
gitlens.blame.annotation.sha	Specifies whether the commit sha will be shown in the blame annotations. Applies only to the expanded & trailing annotation styles
gitlens.codeLens.visibility	Specifies when code lens will be shown in the active document. auto - always shown. ondemand - never shown, unless toggled via the gitlens.toggleCodeLens command. off - never shown
gitlens.codeLens.authors.enabled	Specifies whether the authors code lens is shown
gitlens.codeLens.authors.command	Specifies the command executed when the authors code lens is clicked. gitlens.toggleBlame - toggles blame annotations. gitlens.showBlameHistory - opens the blame history explorer. gitlens.showFileHistory - opens the file history explorer. gitlens.diffWithPrevious - compares the current committed file with the previous commit. gitlens.showQuickCommitDetails - shows a commit details quick pick. gitlens.showQuickCommitFileDetails - shows a commit file details quick pick. gitlens.showQuickFileHistory - shows a file history quick pick. gitlens.showQuickRepoHistory - shows a branch history quick pick
gitlens.codeLens.recentChange.enabled	Specifies whether the recent change code lens is shown
gitlens.codeLens.recentChange.command	"Specifies the command executed when the recent change code lens is clicked. gitlens.toggleBlame - toggles blame annotations. gitlens.showBlameHistory - opens the blame history explorer. gitlens.showFileHistory - opens the file history explorer. gitlens.diffWithPrevious - compares the current committed file with the previous commit. gitlens.showQuickCommitDetails - shows a commit details quick pick. gitlens.showQuickCommitFileDetails - shows a commit file details quick pick. gitlens.showQuickFileHistory - shows a file history quick pick. gitlens.showQuickRepoHistory - shows a branch history quick pick
gitlens.codeLens.location	Specifies where code lens will be rendered in the active document. all - render at the top of the document, on container-like (classes, modules, etc), and on member-like (methods, functions, properties, etc) lines. document+containers - render at the top of the document and on container-like lines. document - only render at the top of the document. custom - rendering controlled by gitlens.codeLens.locationCustomSymbols
gitlens.codeLens.locationCustomSymbols	Specifies the set of document symbols to render active document code lens on. Must be a member of SymbolKind
gitlens.codeLens.languageLocations	Specifies where code lens will be rendered in the active document for the specified languages
gitlens.menus.diff.enabled	Specifies whether diff commands will be added to the context menus
gitlens.statusBar.enabled	Specifies whether blame information is shown in the status bar
gitlens.statusBar.alignment	Specifies the blame alignment in the status bar. left - align to the left, right - align to the right
gitlens.statusBar.command	"Specifies the command executed when the blame status bar item is clicked. gitlens.toggleBlame - toggles blame annotations. gitlens.showBlameHistory - opens the blame history explorer. gitlens.showFileHistory - opens the file history explorer. gitlens.diffWithPrevious - compares the current committed file with the previous commit. gitlens.toggleCodeLens - toggles Git code lens. gitlens.showQuickCommitDetails - shows a commit details quick pick. gitlens.showQuickCommitFileDetails - shows a commit file details quick pick. gitlens.showQuickFileHistory - shows a file history quick pick. gitlens.showQuickRepoHistory - shows a branch history quick pick
gitlens.statusBar.date	Specifies whether and how the commit date will be shown in the blame status bar. off - no date. relative - relative date (e.g. 1 day ago). absolute - date format specified by gitlens.statusBar.dateFormat
gitlens.statusBar.dateFormat	Specifies the date format of how absolute dates will be shown in the blame status bar. See https://momentjs.com/docs/#/displaying/format/ for valid formats

Known Issues

• If the Copy to * clipboard commands don't work on Linux -- xclip needs to be installed. You can install it via sudo apt-get install xclip
• Visible whitespace causes issues (vscode issue #11485) with the expanded and compact blame annotation styles when using a non-monospace font -- set "gitlens.advanced.toggleWhitespace.enabled": true if you are using a non-monospace font

Contributors

A big thanks to the people that have contributed to this project:

• Aurelio Ogliari (@nobitagit) — contributions
• Zack Schuster (@zackschuster) — contributions