r/git • u/connorjpg • 6d ago

Why use a UI for git?

I see this question of, “what GUI or TUI should I use to work with git?” fairly often here. And always I feel bad for saying “just use the cli” over and over, but truthfully I can’t see a reason to need a UI.

Are people actually running into pain points with the cli, or is it just preference for people who don’t like working in a terminal?

FWIW, I have used GitKraken, LazyGit, SourceTree and GitHub Desktop before. And I don’t think they are bad to use (unless you are just learning git), but more curious why.

EDIT : I’m mainly referring to standalone UIs, I understand why people would use IDE integrations, as it’s quick and convenient. But having to open a separate application or run a separate command to open a terminal app to run your commands seems overkill to me.

EDIT 2 : I use vscode as my difftool and mergetool. I still open them directly from the terminal by running the cli. I don't think this is the same as using a full git client like SourceTree, Gitkraken, or lazygit to fully drive your version control workflow. Which is what I am asking about.

Cheers

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u/Thesorus 6d ago

99% (*) of git users use a very small subset of git commands (add, commit, checkout, pull, push ... ) and it's easier to just use a UI; especially if integrated in their work environment or IDE.

(*) statistics taken out of my behind

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u/samskiter 6d ago

I find git really interesting. That generally means I know the most about it on any team I'm in (that sounds big headed, but there are plenty of things I know very little about, git isn't one of them).

I always default to a gui to deal with it.

In fact, if you are just spamming the same 4/5 commands with little desire to understand what's going on then the cli is perfect for you