Git TUI - Terminal User Interface for Git Repository Exploration

A terminal-based user interface for exploring Git repositories, allowing you to browse commit history, view file changes, and inspect diffs in an interactive manner.

Screenshot

Features

• Interactive Commit History: Browse through all commits in your repository with commit messages and timestamps
• Detailed Commit Information: View complete commit details including author, date, and full commit message
• File Change Tracking: See all files modified in each commit with their status (Added, Modified, Deleted)
• Interactive Diff Viewer: Examine the exact changes made to each file with syntax highlighting
• Keyboard Navigation: Easy navigation between different views using keyboard shortcuts
• Scrollable Windows: All views support scrolling for handling large amounts of content

Requirements

• C++ compiler (g++)
• libgit2 (For Git operations)
• ncurses (For terminal UI)
• Git repository to browse

macOS Dependencies

brew install libgit2
brew install ncurses

Linux Dependencies

# Ubuntu/Debian
sudo apt-get install libgit2-dev libncurses5-dev

# Fedora
sudo dnf install libgit2-devel ncurses-devel

# Arch Linux
sudo pacman -S libgit2 ncurses

Installation

1. Clone the repository:

git clone [your-repository-url]
cd [repository-name]

2. Run the build script:

chmod +x build.sh
./build.sh

This will:

• Compile the program
• Create a ~/bin directory if it doesn't exist
• Copy the executable to ~/bin
• Make it accessible from anywhere in your system

3. Add the following to your shell configuration file (~/.zshrc or ~/.bashrc):

export PATH="$HOME/bin:$PATH"
alias gt='git-tui $(git rev-parse --show-toplevel)'

4. Reload your shell configuration:

source ~/.zshrc  # or source ~/.bashrc

Usage

Starting the Browser

There are several ways to start the Git TUI browser:

1. From any directory:

git-tui /path/to/repository

2. From within a Git repository (if you set up the alias):

gt

Navigation

The interface is divided into four main panels:

• Commit History (Top Left): Lists all commits
• Commit Details (Bottom Left): Shows detailed information about the selected commit
• Files Changed (Top Right): Lists all files modified in the selected commit
• Diff View (Bottom Right): Shows the diff for the selected file

Keyboard Controls

• Tab: Cycle between panels (Commit History → Files Changed → Diff View)
• Up Arrow or j: Move cursor up
• Down Arrow or k: Move cursor down
• q: Quit the application

Workflow

1. Navigate through commits in the Commit History panel
2. Select a commit to view its details and changed files
3. Navigate to the Files Changed panel to select a specific file
4. View the file's diff in the Diff View panel
5. Scroll through the diff to examine changes

Building from Source

If you want to build the program manually instead of using the build script:

g++ -o git-tui main.cpp \
    -I/opt/homebrew/opt/libgit2/include \
    -L/opt/homebrew/opt/libgit2/lib \
    -lncurses -lgit2

Support

If you encounter any issues or have questions, please file an issue on the GitHub repository.