gitree

A terminal-based git history visualization tool with live updates and time-based navigation.

Why gitree?

Tools like tig and lazygit are excellent for performing git operations. gitree takes a different approach:

	gitree	tig / lazygit
Focus	Visualization	Actions
Philosophy	Read-only explorer	Full git workflow
Time navigation	Date histogram with range filtering	Scroll only
Live updates	Auto-refresh on file changes	Manual refresh
Graph density	Dynamic width based on viewport	Fixed width

gitree is for understanding history, not managing it. When you need to explore a complex branch structure, find when a change was introduced, or visualize commit patterns over time — without accidentally modifying anything.

Use gitree alongside your existing workflow, not as a replacement.

Features

• Visual commit graph - Multi-lane DAG visualization showing branch relationships
• Live updates - Graph refreshes automatically when repository changes
• Inline commit details - Expand commits to see files and diffs without leaving the graph
• Tag visualization - Tags displayed as yellow badges on commits
• Filtering - Filter by branch, author, or tag
• Author highlight - Dim other commits to focus on one contributor
• Search - Find commits by message or hash
• Date histogram - Timeline showing commit density, filter by time range
• Insights mode - Statistics dashboard with top authors, most-changed files, and activity heatmap
• Diff view - View file changes with syntax highlighting
• Vim-style navigation - Keyboard-driven with mouse support
• Update checker - Check for new releases via --check-update

Layout

gitree repo-name
───────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────
Message Author Date Hash
───────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────
│ ○ [main] Add feature... Alice 12m ago 6144c
│ ╔═══════════════════════╤═══════════════════════════════════╗
│ ║ Commit: 6144c3d... │ Files (3) +42 -18 ║
│ ║ Author: Alice <a@...> │ > M src/app.go +30 -10 ║
│ ║ Date: Jan 30, 2026 │ A src/new.go +12 -0 ║
│ ╚═══ [j/k] file [Enter] diff [Esc] close ═════════════════╝
●─┘ Merge branch 'feature' Bob 1h ago a1b2c
│ Fix authentication bug Carol 2h ago b2c3d
───────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────
⣀⣀⣤⣤⣶⣶⣿⣿⣶⣶⣤⣤⣀⣀
[━━━━━━━━━━]
───────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────
● watching 47/1284 commits 12 branches [b]ranch [c]lear

Usage

# Open current directory
gitree
# Open specific repository
gitree /path/to/repo
gitree ~/projects/myrepo
# With initial filters
gitree -b main # Filter by branch
gitree -a "Alice"# Filter by author
gitree -t v1.0.0 # Filter by tag
gitree -b main -a "Alice"# Combine filters# Version and updates
gitree --version # Show version info
gitree --check-update # Check for new releases

Key Bindings

Navigation

Key	Action
j / k, ↑ / ↓	Navigate up/down
Ctrl+d / Ctrl+u	Page down/up
g / G	Jump to top/bottom
Enter	Expand commit (show files)
Esc	Close/collapse
q	Quit

Filtering & Search

Key	Action
b	Branch filter
a	Author filter
A	Author highlight (dims others)
t	Tag filter
/	Search commits
n / N	Next/previous match
c	Clear all filters
i	Toggle insights view
h	Show help

Timeline

Key	Action
r	Toggle histogram
Tab	Focus histogram
h / l	Move selection (when focused)
[ / ]	Set range start/end
+ / -	Zoom in/out
Enter	Apply time filter

When Expanded

Key	Action
j / k	Navigate files
Enter	Open diff view
Esc	Collapse

Diff View

Key	Action
j / k	Scroll diff
h / l	Previous/next file
Esc / q	Close

Installation

Download Binary

Download the latest release from the releases page.

# Example for macOS Apple Silicon
tar -xzf gitree_0.4.0_darwin_arm64.tar.gz
sudo mv gitree /usr/local/bin/

macOS users: If you see "cannot be opened because it is from an unidentified developer", run:

xattr -d com.apple.quarantine /usr/local/bin/gitree

Go Install

go install github.com/nogo/gitree/cmd/gitree@latest

Build from Source

git clone https://github.com/nogo/gitree.git
cd gitree
make build
# Binary is in bin/gitree

Requirements

• Go 1.25 or later
• A terminal with 256-color support

Dependencies

• bubbletea - TUI framework
• lipgloss - Styling
• go-git - Git operations
• fsnotify - File watching

License

MIT