GitHub - polyphilz/glance: Review git diffs ~aesthetically~. A standalone TUI that serves as a drop-in replacement for VS Code/Cursor's git diff view

Glance is a standalone Git diff review TUI built on Neovim.

Features

Standalone launcher that opens Glance in nvim --clean, so it does not depend on your plugin manager or existing editor config.
Side-by-side diffs with a minimap and live file reloads.
Unified file tree workflow:
- single file tree for staged, unstaged, untracked, and conflicted files
- stage, unstage, or discard one file or the whole repo
- in-app 3-way merge editor for resolving conflicts
- staged-change commit flow with a multi-line floating commit editor
- read-only commit history browser launched from the file tree, with commit preview and hash copy
Lua config for theme, layout, keymaps, signs, refresh behavior, and more.

Quick Start

Make sure these runtime dependencies are on your PATH:
- nvim 0.11+
- git

Install Glance:

Homebrew (macOS / Linux):

brew install polyphilz/tap/glance

Shell installer:

curl -fsSL https://raw.githubusercontent.com/polyphilz/glance/main/install.sh | bash

Optional: create a starter config file:

This writes a starter config to ~/.config/glance/config.lua by default. If GLANCE_CONFIG is set, Glance writes there instead.
Run it inside any Git repository:

Requirements

Dependency	Required for	Notes
macOS or Linux	Running Glance	The launcher and installer assume a Unix-like shell environment.
`nvim` `0.11+`	Runtime UI	Must be available on `PATH` as `nvim`.
`git`	Repo detection, diffing, stage/unstage/discard actions	Must be available on `PATH` as `git`.
`nvim-treesitter`	Optional richer syntax highlighting	If present in Neovim's standard runtime path, Glance picks it up while running in `--clean` mode.

Install details

The bootstrap installer resolves the latest GitHub release by default.

Pin a release:

curl -fsSL https://raw.githubusercontent.com/polyphilz/glance/main/install.sh | GLANCE_REF=v0.1.0 bash

Install unreleased main:

curl -fsSL https://raw.githubusercontent.com/polyphilz/glance/main/install.sh | GLANCE_REF=main bash

Install from a local checkout:

Verify the installed version:

The bootstrap installer downloads Glance into ~/.local/share/glance/<ref> and creates a symlink at ~/.local/bin/glance.

Running ./install.sh from a local checkout creates a symlink at ~/.local/bin/glance that points back to that checkout. That checkout needs to stay in a stable location after installation.

~/.local/bin must be on your PATH.

Usage

Launch Glance from the root of any Git repo, or from any subdirectory inside it:

Default keys:

Key	Action
`<CR>`	Open the selected file
`q`	Quit Glance or close the current diff
`r`	Refresh the file tree and diff state
`J` / `K`	Jump between file tree sections
`<Tab>`	Toggle the file tree
`s`	Stage the selected file
`S`	Stage all supported repo changes
`u`	Unstage the selected file
`U`	Unstage all supported staged changes
`c`	Commit the staged set in a floating editor
`L`	Open the read-only git log modal
`d`	Discard the selected file after confirmation
`D`	Discard all repo changes after confirmation

Pane navigation uses Neovim's built-in window commands by default, so <C-w><Left>, <C-w><Right>, <C-w><Up>, and <C-w><Down> work in Glance, along with <C-w>h/j/k/l.

Conflicted text files open in a 3-way merge editor with Theirs, Ours, and editable Result panes. Press ? in merge mode to see the actions available for the current conflict or file.

Inside the git log modal, use j / k to move between commits, <CR> to preview the selected commit, y to copy the full hash, r to refresh, and q to go back or close.

Configuration

Glance loads an optional Lua config file automatically. The most common location is ~/.config/glance/config.lua, or you can point GLANCE_CONFIG at a custom file.

Create a starter config automatically:

If you want to overwrite an existing config file:

glance init-config --force

The config file must return a Lua table.

Example:

return {
  app = {
    hide_statusline = true,
  },
  theme = {
    preset = 'one_light',
  },
  minimap = {
    width = 2,
  },
  windows = {
    filetree = {
      width = 36,
    },
    diff = {
      relativenumber = false,
    },
  },
  log = {
    max_commits = 200,
  },
  filetree = {
    show_legend = false,
  },
}

Add custom pane-navigation aliases if you want alternatives to Neovim's built-in <C-w> window commands. If your terminal or tmux reports those keys as arrows, use the tokens Neovim actually sees:

return {
  pane_navigation = {
    left = '<Left>',
    down = '<Down>',
    up = '<Up>',
    right = '<Right>',
  },
}

These are extra aliases. Glance does not disable Neovim's built-in <C-w> window navigation.

Themes

Glance ships with two built-in theme presets:

seti_black
one_light

seti_black is the default. Switch presets with theme.preset, and layer theme.palette overrides on top when you want to tune individual colors.

return {
  theme = {
    preset = 'one_light',
  },
}

Config reference

Search order:

$GLANCE_CONFIG
$XDG_CONFIG_HOME/glance/config.lua
~/.config/glance/config.lua

Available top-level config domains:

app
theme
windows
filetree
log
merge
keymaps
pane_navigation
hunk_navigation
signs
welcome
minimap
watch

Built-in theme presets:

seti_black
one_light

Notes:

Top-level flat keys like hide_statusline = true are not supported. Use the nested schema.
theme.preset selects a built-in palette, and theme.palette can override individual colors on top of that preset.
welcome.animate controls whether the welcome screen animation runs.
watch.enabled keeps .git metadata watchers on. watch.poll controls background worktree polling for new untracked/external file changes.
merge.keymaps.show_help controls the merge actions help key. It defaults to ?.
Discard actions always prompt for confirmation before changing the repo state.

Troubleshooting

glance: command not found ~/.local/bin is probably not on your PATH. Run this to fix it:

case ":$PATH:" in
  *":$HOME/.local/bin:"*) echo "~/.local/bin already on PATH" ;;
  *)
    case "${SHELL##*/}" in
      zsh) rc="${ZDOTDIR:-$HOME}/.zshrc" ;;
      bash) rc="$HOME/.bashrc" ;;
      *) rc="$HOME/.profile" ;;
    esac
    line='export PATH="$HOME/.local/bin:$PATH"'
    grep -qxF "$line" "$rc" 2>/dev/null || printf '\n%s\n' "$line" >> "$rc"
    export PATH="$HOME/.local/bin:$PATH"
    echo "Added ~/.local/bin to PATH in $rc"
    ;;
esac

glance: not a git repository Glance only runs inside a Git work tree.
Syntax highlighting looks limited Install nvim-treesitter in Neovim's standard runtime path for richer highlighting while Glance runs in --clean mode.

Roadmap

Glance is still focused on the local review loop. Near-term work includes:

Hunk-level stage, unstage, and discard
Filetree filtering and path search for larger changesets
File-scoped history, plus better commit-loop ergonomics like amend and fixup
Merge-editor polish such as optional base view, vertical layout, and smart-combine-style actions

License

MIT