Open GitLens

Free, local-only GitLens-style Git tooling for VS Code. Plain JS, no build step, uses the git CLI.

Commit Graph (Cmd+Alt+G G)

• Columns: Branch/Tag, Graph, Commit Message, Author (avatar), Date, Sha, Changes (+/-). Drag to resize, right-click the header to hide, compact graph mode.
• Header: repo, current branch (click to switch), ahead/behind, Pull, Push, Fetch with last-fetched time.
• Working Changes row and stash rows inside the graph. Selecting Working Changes lets you stage, unstage, discard and commit (or amend).
• Search with prefixes: message: author: file: change: commit: after: before: @me. Options: match case, regex. F3 / Shift+F3 / Enter to move between matches.
• Filters: All / Current / Smart branches; show or hide remote branches, tags, stashes; dim merge commits; hide individual refs (right-click a branch/tag chip).
• Minimap with markers for HEAD, branches, tags, stashes and search results. Click to jump.
• Details panel: message, author, parents, changed files as list or tree, per-file diff, open file, file history.
• Context menus on commits (checkout, branch, tag, cherry-pick, revert, undo commit, reset, compare, open on remote), stashes (apply/pop/drop) and refs.

Editor

Feature	How
Line blame, status bar blame, hovers (Changes / Copy SHA / Open on remote / Blame previous)	automatic
File blame (age-colored gutter)	Alt+B
Git CodeLens (latest author, author count)	Shift+Alt+B to toggle
Compare file with branch, tag or commit; between two revisions; open file at revision	right click > Open GitLens, or Cmd+Alt+G C
Revision navigation: previous / next / working file	Alt+, / Alt+., or the arrows in the diff title
File history in the side bar: arrow keys show each commit's changes on the right; line/range history	Cmd+Alt+G H

Side bar views

Branches, Compare, Worktrees (create, open in new window, remove), Tags, Stashes, Contributors.

Not included (need a GitKraken account/cloud)

Launchpad, Cloud Patches, Code Suggest, and all AI features.

Supported platforms

Windows, Linux and macOS. Needs git available to VS Code (it uses the same executable as the built-in Git extension, or the git.path setting). CI runs the unit tests and an end-to-end suite in a real VS Code on all three systems.

Install

From the Marketplace: search for Open GitLens, or run code --install-extension devneonix.open-gitlens.

From a .vsix: code --install-extension open-gitlens-<version>.vsix.

Develop

npm ci
npm test                # syntax check + unit tests (temporary git repos)
npm run test:e2e        # runs the commands in a real VS Code (downloads it once)

Run the extension from source: open this folder in VS Code and press F5.

Avatars come from Gravatar/GitHub. Disable with openGitLens.graph.avatars: false.

Layout

• src/git.js git CLI wrapper (no vscode import, testable with plain node)
• src/gitGraph.js graph data: scopes, stashes, status, stats, search, worktrees
• src/graphLayout.js pure lane-assignment algorithm
• src/graph.js + media/graph.{js,css} Commit Graph webview
• src/views.js tree views, src/compare.js Compare, src/revisions.js revision navigation
• test/unit git-layer tests, test/e2e real VS Code tests
• src/extension.js line blame, src/annotations.js file blame, src/history.js history/diffs, src/codelens.js, src/actions.js