GitComet

GitComet

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Fastest Open Source Git GUI

GitComet is built for teams that want fast Git operations with local-first privacy, familiar workflows, and open source freedom.

Available for Linux, Windows, and macOS.

https://github.com/user-attachments/assets/acc45615-7e13-4952-aebe-36f600cc4f24

Download

Download the latest prebuilt binaries/installers from GitHub Releases.

Download the latest Windows installer or portable binary from GitHub Releases.

Install from the Microsoft Store:

App and gitcomet command from tap:

brew install --cask gitcomet

On Linux, the cask installs the AppImage build. If your system cannot launch AppImages, use the APT repo, the RPM, the release tarball, or the .deb instead.

The gitcomet-bin package repackages the release tarballs for x86_64 and aarch64 and is updated by the release workflow:

git clone https://aur.archlinux.org/gitcomet-bin.git
cd gitcomet-bin && makepkg -si

emerge --ask dev-vcs/gitcomet

curl -fsSL https://apt.gitcomet.dev/gitcomet-archive-keyring.gpg | sudo tee /usr/share/keyrings/gitcomet-archive-keyring.gpg >/dev/null
curl -fsSL https://apt.gitcomet.dev/gitcomet.sources | sudo tee /etc/apt/sources.list.d/gitcomet.sources >/dev/null
sudo apt update
sudo apt install gitcomet

If you install a Linux tarball or Homebrew binary on Debian, Ubuntu, or WSLg instead of the official apt package, install the GUI runtime libraries separately. GitComet uses Fontconfig to discover fonts, draws with Vulkan, or EGL when Vulkan is unavailable, and uses the Wayland libraries in Wayland sessions:

sudo apt install libfontconfig1 libxcb1 libxkbcommon0 libxkbcommon-x11-0 libvulkan1 libegl1 libwayland-client0 libwayland-egl1

Download the .rpm for your architecture from GitHub Releases and install it:

sudo dnf install ./gitcomet-<version>-1.x86_64.rpm

The RPM supports Fedora 42 and newer. It needs glibc 2.35 or newer, so RHEL 9 and its rebuilds (glibc 2.34) cannot install it.

Requirements

GitComet requires a local Git installation of 2.53 or newer. With an older Git, GitComet shows a notice asking you to update, and features that need newer Git (such as repository maintenance) are turned off.

GitComet User Survey

We’re running this short survey to better understand how people use our Git GUI client in their daily work. Your feedback will help us improve the product and prioritize the features that matter most.

https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSd8DKIl222UomSXrpv1q9rWodRlBSQo9pJDD62GbZEANTgD1A/viewform?usp=dialog

Why GitComet

GitComet started from frustration with existing tools on huge codebases like Chromium. We could not find a product that stays responsive and functional when browsing large repositories and file diffs.

Editions (planned)

Open Source

• Price: €0 forever
• Usage: Free for personal and commercial use
• Includes:
  • Full local-first desktop workflow
  • Git remotes, branch-scoped Pull, push, staging, commits
  • Configurable automatic background fetch across open workspaces (docs)
  • Worktrees, branching, and full history
  • Bare repository browsing and conversion (docs)
  • Multi-repository browsing
  • Inline and side-by-side diffs
  • 2-way and 3-way merge tools
  • Git LFS: file status, content downloads, locks and tracking (docs)
  • git-annex: content get/drop/copy/move, special remotes, adjusted branches (docs)

Professional

• Price: €20 lifetime access (limited-time early adopter offer)
• Includes everything in Open Source, plus:
  • Claude Code, Codex, and GitHub CLI integrations
  • Code test coverage workflows
  • GitHub and Azure DevOps integrations
  • Priority improvements during early access
• Join waitlist: gitcomet.dev/#editions

Build from source

On Linux, install Clang and mold first; see developer setup.

cargo build -p gitcomet --features ui-gpui,gix
cargo run -p gitcomet --features ui-gpui,gix -- /path/to/repo

Contributing

Developer setup, workspace layout, testing, and coverage docs live in CONTRIBUTING.md.

Using as a Git difftool / mergetool

GitComet can be used as a standalone diff and merge tool invoked by git difftool and git mergetool. It supports both headless (algorithm-only) and GUI (interactive GPUI window) modes.

Setup / uninstall (recommended)

# Configure Git globally to use GitComet for both difftool + mergetool
gitcomet setup

# Remove GitComet integration safely
gitcomet uninstall

• Use --local to target only the current repository instead of global config.
• Use --dry-run to print the commands before applying changes.

This setup registers both headless and GUI variants with guiDefault=auto, so Git chooses GUI when display is available and falls back to headless otherwise. setup/uninstall are designed to be idempotent.

Built-in setup writes these Git config entries:

GITCOMET_BIN="/absolute/path/to/gitcomet"

# Headless tool: algorithm-only merge/diff for CI, scripts, and no-display environments
git config --global merge.tool gitcomet
git config --global mergetool.gitcomet.cmd \
  "'$GITCOMET_BIN' mergetool --base \"\$BASE\" --local \"\$LOCAL\" --remote \"\$REMOTE\" --merged \"\$MERGED\""
git config --global mergetool.trustExitCode true
git config --global mergetool.gitcomet.trustExitCode true
git config --global mergetool.prompt false

git config --global diff.tool gitcomet
git config --global difftool.gitcomet.cmd \
  "'$GITCOMET_BIN' difftool --local \"\$LOCAL\" --remote \"\$REMOTE\" --path \"\$MERGED\""
git config --global difftool.trustExitCode true
git config --global difftool.gitcomet.trustExitCode true
git config --global difftool.prompt false

# GUI tool: opens focused GPUI windows for interactive diff/merge
git config --global merge.guitool gitcomet-gui
git config --global mergetool.gitcomet-gui.cmd \
  "'$GITCOMET_BIN' mergetool --gui --base \"\$BASE\" --local \"\$LOCAL\" --remote \"\$REMOTE\" --merged \"\$MERGED\""
git config --global mergetool.gitcomet-gui.trustExitCode true

git config --global diff.guitool gitcomet-gui
git config --global difftool.gitcomet-gui.cmd \
  "'$GITCOMET_BIN' difftool --gui --local \"\$LOCAL\" --remote \"\$REMOTE\" --path \"\$MERGED\""
git config --global difftool.gitcomet-gui.trustExitCode true

# Auto-select GUI tool when DISPLAY is available, headless otherwise
git config --global mergetool.guiDefault auto
git config --global difftool.guiDefault auto

Built-in setup stores previous user values for shared generic keys under gitcomet.backup.* (when needed).
Built-in uninstall restores those backups only when the key still has the setup-managed value. If the user changed a setting after setup, uninstall preserves that user-edited value and then removes GitComet-specific keys.

CLI modes

Difftool:

gitcomet difftool --local <path> --remote <path> [--path <display_name>] [--label-left <label>] [--label-right <label>]

Also reads LOCAL/REMOTE from environment as a fallback when invoked by Git.

Mergetool:

gitcomet mergetool --local <path> --remote <path> --merged <path> [--base <path>] [--label-local <label>] [--label-remote <label>] [--label-base <label>]

Also reads LOCAL/REMOTE/MERGED/BASE from environment. Base is optional for add/add conflicts.

Compatibility

KDiff3 and Meld invocation forms are supported (--L1/--L2/--L3, -o/--output/--out, --base, positional arguments), so GitComet can be a drop-in replacement.

Commit signature verification

Verification is disabled by default because it can slow down the Git log. Enable Settings → Git log → Verify commit signatures to show verification badges.

GitComet shows verification badges on signed commits. Git performs the check, using gpg for GPG and X.509 signatures and ssh-keygen for SSH signatures, so badges need those programs and the signers' public keys. Settings → Executables shows which programs GitComet found.

To install GnuPG, trust GitHub's signing key, and configure SSH allowed signers, see the commit signature guide.

Difftastic

Choose Settings → Diff → Diff Engine to make Difftastic the default, or use the diff viewer's cog for a temporary override. Both Split and Inline layouts support it. See Difftastic for partial staging and fallbacks.

Themes

GitComet supports built-in themes and user-provided custom themes.

Built-in themes are embedded in the GitComet binary. Custom themes are loaded from JSON bundle files in your per-user themes directory, which GitComet creates on startup.

The full theme guide, including file locations, schema details, example bundles, and override behavior, now lives in THEMES.md.

Crash logs

GitComet writes panic logs and abnormal-exit recovery state to:

• Linux: $XDG_STATE_HOME/gitcomet/crashes/ (fallback: ~/.local/state/gitcomet/crashes/)
• macOS: ~/Library/Logs/gitcomet/crashes/
• Windows: %LOCALAPPDATA%\gitcomet\crashes\ (fallback: %APPDATA%\gitcomet\crashes\)

On Linux, the directory normally is ~/.local/state/gitcomet/crashes/. GitComet creates a process-specific session-in-progress-<pid>.log before it starts the GPUI runtime. A native abort, terminated UI, or GPUI event loop exit without an explicitly requested user shutdown leaves that marker behind; Rust panics also write panic-*.log, except a panic GitComet contains in code it does not own (such as Difftastic), which falls back instead. Error-level runtime diagnostics are mirrored to last-runtime-error-<pid>.log, including their source location and a backtrace, so fatal errors logged and consumed by the UI runtime remain reportable. Recovery ignores markers owned by still-running GitComet processes, so one open instance cannot consume another's crash state. On the next launch, GitComet snapshots recovered data as pending-startup-report.log and retains it until the user reports or dismisses the notification, so a failed subsequent launch cannot discard the report before its notification is visible.

GitComet presents the report in the next UI launch and also prints its prefilled GitHub issue URL and log path to the launching terminal. The report includes app version, platform, structured failure details, and a trimmed backtrace.

Prior work and ideas inspired by:

SourceTree, GitKraken, Zed, GPUI, KDiff3, Meld, Github Desktop, Git, Gix, Rust, Smol, and many more.

This project has been created with the help of AI tools, including OpenAI Codex and Claude Code. The AI policy sets how contributors use them.

Star History

[Star History Chart]

License

GitComet is licensed under the GNU Affero General Public License Version 3 (AGPL-3.0-only). See LICENSE-AGPL-3.0.

Copyright (C) 2026 AutoExplore Oy
Contact: info@autoexplore.ai