The full Git workflow in your editor: a commit graph, inline blame, staging, rebase, and pull requests.
v1.20.0723 installs10,443 downloads
GitStudio Desktop 2.6
The full Git and GitHub workflow in one desktop app.
A commit graph, a three-pane merge editor, interactive rebase, pull requests and issues, and a real terminal, in one window with a tab for every repository. Free, open source, and no account.
- v2.6.1
- Apache-2.0
- No account
- No usage tracking
01 · Commit graph
A commit graph that stays fast at tens of thousands of commits.
The graph is virtualized, so it stays responsive on large repositories. Colored lanes, ref chips, author avatars on the nodes, and full keyboard navigation. The same engine draws it on the desktop and in the editor.
- Check out, branch, tag, cherry-pick, revert, rebase, or reset from any commit.
- Select several commits to cherry-pick, revert, squash, or drop them in one go, compare two, or copy their SHAs. Each one can be undone.
- Filter the graph to one branch or a few, and search by message, author, SHA, or ref.
- Open a file from a commit and its diff takes the panel at the bottom, full width.
- See the files a commit changed as a list or as a folder tree.
- Edit the message of any commit, not only the last one. GitStudio replays the commits after it, and Undo puts them back.
The graph above is GitStudio's own graph component, rendering the history of the GitStudio repository. Scroll and click through it.
Also in your editor
GitStudio is also two editor extensions.
The engine behind the desktop app, as two open-source extensions for VS Code, Cursor, and every editor built on VS Code. Take the whole workflow, or only the merge editor.
The three-pane merge editor and the conflicts dashboard on their own, with a named undo history.
v1.4.1694 installs4,131 downloads
Runs in VS Code, Cursor, VSCodium, Windsurf, and code-server. VS Code installs from the Marketplace; the others install the same build from Open VSX.
02 · Merge
Conflicts, from the first stop to Continue.
When a merge, rebase, cherry-pick, or revert stops, the conflicts dashboard lists every file with Accept Yours, Accept Theirs, and Merge…, and Continue, Skip, or Abort named for the operation. Merge… opens yours, the result, and theirs side by side, each change coloured by the decision it needs.
- Four colours with a legend: conflict, same on both sides, one side only, removed lines.
- Apply every non-conflicting change at once, or let Resolve simple settle the easy ones.
- During a rebase, Yours is always your own commit, on the left.
- The same editor and dashboard ship in the GitStudio extension and in Merge Studio.
03 · Everyday Git
The rest of the everyday workflow.
Repositories as tabs
Each repository you open gets a tab that keeps its own view, selection, and search. Ctrl+Tab moves between them, and the tabs you had open come back when you restart.
Interactive rebase
Reorder commits by dragging them: pick, reword, edit, squash, fixup, drop. Select several and set their action at once.
Undo
A drop, a reset, a discard, a batch cherry-pick: each one leaves an Undo in the notice it shows, and ⌘Z (Ctrl+Z) works too. Each tab keeps its own history.
Pull and push that ask
A diverged branch asks Merge or Rebase for that pull, and never rewrites your config. Changes in the way get Stash & Retry, and every force push is leased.
Branches, stashes, worktrees
Local and remote branches, tags, and stashes in one view: who works on each branch, how recently, active or stale. Reset a branch to its remote, switch branches from the keyboard, and open a worktree in a tab of its own.
A real terminal
A real shell in the bottom panel, beside an Output tab that logs every git command GitStudio runs for you, with how long it took.
04 · GitHub
All of GitHub, inside the app.
Issues and pull requests are full-width lists that open into full-page details with a property rail. Review a pull request: check it out, comment on lines, and post the comments with your verdict as one review. Read any GitHub repository without cloning it. Every list says where a repository is — on this machine, or on GitHub. Inbox, Actions, releases, projects, organizations, and gists are built-in views too.
05 · Assistant · optional
AI that runs on your own keys.
The assistant is off until you connect a model. It runs on your own API keys across ten cloud providers or any OpenAI-compatible server, on the Claude Code, Codex or Gemini CLI you already have, or locally through Ollama and LM Studio. It reads real status, diffs, and history, and asks before every write. A built-in MCP server gives other agents the same tools.
- A permission control — read-only, commits, or everything — that asks before every write, with each tool call visible.
- Requests go from your machine to your provider. Keys stay on your machine, encrypted in GitStudio's own store rather than the OS keychain — the trade-off is in the FAQ.
- With Ollama or LM Studio, nothing leaves your machine.
- Enter sends, every answer copies as Markdown, and the composer says which repository and branch it is working in.
Anthropic, OpenAI, Gemini, and 7 more cloud providers — any OpenAI-compatible server — the Claude Code, Codex and Gemini CLIs you already have — and local models through Ollama and LM Studio.
Install · v2.6.1
Get GitStudio Desktop.
macOS, Linux and Windows — free and open source. No account, no license key, nothing to activate.
macOS
curl -fsSL https://gitstudio.dev/install.sh | bashor with Homebrew:
brew install --cask gitstudiohq/gitstudio/gitstudiograbbed the .dmg? macOS asks once: Privacy & Security → Open Anyway, or run:
xattr -d -r -s com.apple.quarantine /Applications/GitStudio.appmacOS 12 Monterey or later · Apple Silicon & Intel
Linux
curl -fsSL https://gitstudio.dev/install.sh | bashgrabbed the AppImage yourself? make it executable:
chmod +x GitStudio-*.AppImagex86-64, glibc 2.35+ (Ubuntu 22.04, Debian 12 or newer) · the AppImage needs libfuse2, the packages do not
Windows
irm https://gitstudio.dev/install.ps1 | iexgrabbed the .exe? SmartScreen will warn once — “More info” → “Run anyway”.
Windows 10 or 11, x64
GitStudio runs the Git already on your computer, so install Git first if you have none. The builds are not code-signed or notarized yet. Every installer is built by CI from the public repository and lands on the releases page with SHA256SUMS.txt beside it; the one-line installers verify against it and refuse to install on a mismatch. Every build, the checksums, and the extension →
How it compares
GitStudio next to the alternatives.
A feature-by-feature comparison with GitKraken, GitLens, and the built-in Git tools.
| Capability | GitStudio | GitKraken | GitLens | Built-in Git |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Desktop app | Free | Paid | — | — |
| Commit graph on private repos | Free | Paid | Pro | — |
| Three-pane merge editor | Yes | Yes | Uses built-in | Basic |
| Full GitHub client in-app | Yes | Yes | Companion ext | Companion ext |
| Undo for Git operations | Yes | Yes | — | — |
| AI on your own keys | Yes | Account + cloud | Pro / cloud | Copilot sub |
| Local-model AI | Ollama, LM Studio | — | — | — |
| Also a VS Code / Cursor extension | Yes | — | Yes | Yes |
| Open source | Apache-2.0 | Closed | Open-core | MIT |
| Account required | No | Yes | For Pro | No |
| Price for the full feature set | $0 | Subscription | Subscription | $0 |
Reflects each product's publicly documented behavior as of July 2026. Plans change, so check their pricing pages. Found an error? File an issue and we'll correct it.
FAQ
Questions.
Is GitStudio actually free?
Yes. The desktop app and both extensions are free on public and private repositories, with no account and no paid tier. The desktop app and the GitStudio extension are Apache-2.0; Merge Studio is MIT, with the merge packages it shares with GitStudio under Apache-2.0.
Does my code or data leave my machine?
Your code, no. Git runs locally, GitHub calls go straight to GitHub with your own sign-in, and there is no usage tracking and no analytics. What the app does send: a check for new versions to GitHub Releases; avatar lookups on Gravatar, which the commit graph makes with an MD5 hash of each commit author's email (Settings ▸ Appearance turns them off, and so does gitstudio.avatars.gravatar in the extension); and an anonymous crash report when something fails — the shape of the error with a random install id, scrubbed of paths, emails, remotes, and code, sent to gitstudio.dev and filed in a private tracker. Crash reports are on by default: Help → Send Anonymous Crash Reports turns them off. The GitStudio extension sends the same reports unless you set gitstudio.errorReporting.enabled to false or turn off VS Code's telemetry; Merge Studio sends none. The assistant is off until you connect a model, and with a local model through Ollama or LM Studio, nothing leaves your machine. Every connection, in full: the desktop app'sand the extension's privacy notes.
Which editors do the extensions support?
VS Code, Cursor, VSCodium, Windsurf, and code-server. VS Code installs from the Marketplace; the others install the same build from Open VSX. See the extensions for details.
Do I need an account?
No. There is no GitStudio account. You sign in to GitHub with your own credentials only when you use the GitHub features.
Where are my API keys stored?
On your machine, in GitStudio's own encrypted store — not your OS keychain, so there is never a system password prompt. Each key is an AES-256-GCM file readable only by your user, and nothing is written in clear text. The trade-off, plainly: the device key that decrypts them is stored next to them, so a copied backup or synced folder is useless on its own, but any program already running as you could read them. That is weaker than a keychain that asks you to unlock it.
How does AI billing work with my own keys?
You add your provider's API key, and requests go from your machine to that provider. You pay the provider directly at their rates. GitStudio takes no cut and runs no proxy. Local models through Ollama or LM Studio cost nothing.
Can I trust the installers?
They are built by CI from the public source and attached to the GitHub release with a SHA256SUMS.txt; the one-line installers verify against it and refuse to install on a mismatch. The builds are not code-signed or notarized yet. On Windows, SmartScreen warns on first launch (More info → Run anyway). On macOS the app is only ad-hoc signed: the install script and the Homebrew cask clear the quarantine flag for you, and a .dmg you download yourself opens after one step, shown on the download page. You can verify the checksums yourself, or build from source.
Does the app update itself?
It checks GitHub Releases for a new version and asks; nothing downloads until you say so, and the question stays until you answer it. On Windows, and on Linux with the AppImage, it downloads the update and restarts into it. On macOS the build is unsigned, so it downloads the new .dmg to your Downloads folder and opens it — one drag to Applications.
What does it run on?
macOS 12 Monterey or later on Apple Silicon or Intel; Windows 10 or 11, x64; and Linux on x86-64, glibc 2.35+ (Ubuntu 22.04, Debian 12 or newer). There is no Windows ARM64 or Linux arm64 build yet. GitStudio runs the Git already on your computer and does not bundle one; the download page says where to get it.
Support GitStudio
Free and open source. If it saves you time…
GitStudio has no paid tier, no account, and no ads, and it is built in the open. A sponsorship or a coffee pays for the time that goes into it, and keeps it free for everyone.
Download
Get GitStudio Desktop.
Installers for macOS, Windows, and Linux, or one command in a terminal. Private repositories work exactly like public ones — free, open source, no account.