gitree

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

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
• Filtering - Filter by branch or author
• 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
• Diff view - View file changes with syntax highlighting
• Vim-style navigation - Keyboard-driven with mouse support

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

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)
/	Search commits
n / N	Next/previous match
c	Clear all filters

Timeline

Key	Action
t	Toggle histogram
Tab	Focus histogram
h / l	Move selection
[ / ]	Set range start/end
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_0.3.0_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
go build -o gitree ./cmd/gitree

Requirements

• Go 1.24 or later
• A terminal with 256-color support

Dependencies

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

License

MIT