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Pinpoint when a string, line, or file changed in git history. Wraps git log -S, git blame, and git log --diff-filter=A with sensible defaults so you don't have to memorize flag combinations. Zero deps. Free forever from vøiddo.
If you are choosing between a focused CLI and an interactive TUI, start with the live compare page: gitwhen vs tig.
$ gitwhen "TODO: deprecated"
gitwhen "TODO: deprecated"
● a3c4b18 2026-03-14 alice — drop legacy queue path
● 7f1e602 2025-11-08 bob — TODO before refactor
2 commit(s) touched the diff.
Git already knows the answer. The problem is the question takes three different commands depending on whether you want to find when a string entered the codebase, when a line was last set, or when a file was first added or last deleted. You only run any of them once a quarter, so by the time you need it you've forgotten the flag soup. git log -S "<str>" -- path/, git blame -L 42,42 file, git log --diff-filter=A --reverse -- path — three different mental models. gitwhen is the mnemonic that wraps all three.
npm install -g @v0idd0/gitwhen# When did this string get added/removed?
gitwhen "TODO: deprecated"# What commit last set this exact line?
gitwhen src/server/index.ts:42
# When was a file first added / deleted / re-added?
gitwhen --file backend/legacy.py
# Regex variant
gitwhen --regex "console\.log\(.*pii.*\)"# Restrict string search to a path
gitwhen "API_KEY" --path backend/
# JSON for scripts
gitwhen "feature_flag" --json | jq '.commits[0].author'| Mode | Wraps | Output |
|---|---|---|
gitwhen "<query>" | git log --all -S "<query>" | Every commit that introduced or removed this exact string, oldest first |
gitwhen <file>:<line> | git blame --porcelain | Hash, author, date, subject, line content |
gitwhen --file <path> | git log --diff-filter=A/D | First-added commit, every delete, re-adds, last-touched |
gitwhen --regex "<re>" | git log --all -G <re> | Same as string mode but regex matching on the diff |
Add --json to any for structured output ready for jq.
| tool | string-pickaxe | line-blame | file-lifespan | regex on diff | install |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| gitwhen | yes | yes | yes | yes | one npm install |
git log -S | yes | no | no | no | bundled |
git blame | no | yes | no | no | bundled |
git log --diff-filter | no | no | yes | no | bundled |
| GitLens (VS Code) | yes | yes | yes | partial | editor extension |
If you live in VS Code, GitLens does this and more. For a terminal-resident workflow (server triage, code review on a remote box), gitwhen is the consolidating CLI.
Why search across all branches by default? Because regressions tend to live in some branch you forgot about. git log -S defaulting to current branch means "I know what reverted me" misses the obvious answer.
Performance on a 100K-commit repo? First search is bound by git log -S itself (a few seconds in pathological cases). gitwhen adds <100ms of parsing on top.
Does it find renames? For --file mode yes (we pass --follow). For string-pickaxe mode renames don't matter — the content is what's tracked.
What about git log --all -L <line>? That's the "evolution of this exact line" view. It's powerful but slow on large files; gitwhen's blame mode is the snapshot ("who set this now"). Different question, different tool.
0— found at least one match1— no commits matched (empty timeline)2— invalid arguments or not a git repo
Wire it into a pre-commit / CI guardrail:
gitwhen --json "OLD_DEPRECATED_API"| jq -e '.count > 0'> /dev/null && {
echo"OLD_DEPRECATED_API is back in your tree."exit 1
}const{ searchString, blameLine, fileLifespan }=require('@v0idd0/gitwhen');constr=searchString('feature_flag',{cwd: '/path/to/repo'});console.log(r.commits[0]);// { hash, short, author, email, date, subject }This is one tool out of many — see from-the-studio.md for the full lineup of vøiddo products (other CLI tools, browser extensions, the studio's flagship products and games).
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