GitChef

Open-source visual Git client. Fast, native, and cross-platform.

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GitChef is a desktop Git client built with Tauri and React. It pairs a tabbed, multi-repository workspace with a fast commit graph, inline diffs, and a focused staging flow, all inside a small native window.

Screenshots

Browse history as a commit graph - branches, tags, remotes, stashes, and real author avatars.

Stage changes and read inline diffs side by side, then commit - all in one view.

Features

• Tabbed workspace - keep multiple repositories open, color-code tabs to tell them apart, and switch between them.
• Commit graph - browse history with branches, tags, remotes, and stashes.
• Author avatars - commit authors show their real GitHub or GitLab profile picture (resolved from the repo's remote), falling back to Gravatar.
• Staging panel - stage, unstage, and discard changes from a searchable file list.
• Diff viewer - read inline diffs with line-level selection, or flip the preview to a full-file view.
• Branch tools - checkout, create branches, and fetch/pull/push from a single toolbar.
• Recent repositories - jump back into recently opened repos from the Home tab.
• Theming - light, dark, and system themes.
• Auto-updates - a built-in, signature-verified updater keeps installed builds current.

Install

Grab the latest build for your platform from the Releases page:

• macOS - GitChef_<version>_universal.dmg (Intel + Apple Silicon). Open it and drag GitChef to Applications. The app isn't notarized by Apple yet, so the first launch is blocked by Gatekeeper: right-click GitChef and choose Open (or run xattr -dr com.apple.quarantine /Applications/GitChef.app).
• Windows - GitChef_<version>_x64-setup.exe (or the .msi). The installer isn't code-signed yet, so SmartScreen may warn - choose More info -> Run anyway.
• Linux - GitChef_<version>_amd64.AppImage (recommended: portable, runs on most distros, and auto-updating; chmod +x it then run - some systems need libfuse2). A .deb is also published for Debian/Ubuntu.

Once installed, GitChef checks for signature-verified updates on launch and updates itself in the background. Auto-update covers the macOS, Windows, and Linux AppImage builds; the Linux .deb updates through your package manager instead.

Development

Prerequisites: Node.js with pnpm, plus the Rust toolchain for the Tauri backend.

pnpm install        # install frontend dependencies
pnpm tauri dev      # run the full app in development

To run only the frontend dev server (no native shell), use pnpm dev.

Build

pnpm tauri build    # produce a native bundle for the current platform

Bundles and installers are written to src-tauri/target/release/bundle/.

Tech stack

• Tauri 2 - native shell, window chrome, and bundling.
• React 18 + TypeScript - UI.
• libgit2 (via git2) for local reads; network operations delegate to the system git CLI.

Project layout

src/            React frontend (components, state, styling)
src-tauri/      Rust backend, Tauri config, and bundle icons
docs/           Project documentation (see RELEASING.md)

Tests

pnpm test

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