GitHub - thiagokokada/gitk-go: A lightweight Git history explorer written in Go

gitk-go

gitk-go is a lightweight Git history explorer written in Go. It recreates much of gitk using modernc.org/tk9.0 and the system git binary.

Features

• Three-column commit list with branch graph, author, and date columns
• Background batching keeps the UI responsive and automatically loads more commits
• Diff viewer highlights additions, removals, headers, and supports per-file navigation plus optional syntax highlighting
• Built-in file list to jump to specific file diffs
• Keyboard shortcuts mirroring common gitk bindings (navigation, paging, reload). Press F1 to see all shortcuts
• Automatic reload watcher (with UI toggle) to keep history fresh as the repository changes
• Auto-detects OS dark mode with optional manual override

Requirements

• Git version 2.23.0 or newer

Usage

$ gitk-go -h
Usage of gitk-go:
  -graph-cols uint
    	max number of graph columns to render (lower uses less CPU/memory) (default 200)
  -limit uint
    	number of commits to load per batch (larger uses more CPU/memory) (default 1000)
  -mode string
    	color mode: auto, light, or dark (default "auto")
  -nosyntax
    	disable syntax highlighting in the diff viewer
  -nowatch
    	disable automatic reload when repository changes
  -text-graph
    	render commit graph as text (disables canvas graph)
  -verbose
    	enable verbose logging
  -version
    	print version information and exit

macOS release binaries

macOS may set the quarantine (security) attribute on downloaded release binaries. If the app refuses to launch, clear it:

xattr -d com.apple.quarantine /path/to/gitk-go

Known issues

• Automatic reload doesn't work well with core.fsmonitor option from git enabled
• Light theme seems to be much slower than dark theme (not noticeable unless you're using a slow device)

Development

go test ./...
go build ./...

See AGENTS.md for guidelines followed by the automation helping maintain this project.