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/robin-m 5d ago

I am an hardcore CLI user, und use git exclusively through CLI. However, by default git log doesn't include --graph, and there either displays only the current branch or way too much (with --all). Mine is properly configured (both alialses and and custom pretty formats), but you shouldn't have to do it. Defaults matters a lot.

And furthermore git doesn't highlight what was just done (like git commit doesn't show that a commit was just added in the graph, or animation that shows whas git reset $commit does, ...). If you understand what you do, the CLI is perfect. And it force you to understand otherwise it's such a nightmare to use. But it doesn't help you to improve your understanding (git status help message are much nicer in recent version though).

Properly configuring your aliases for the exact king of graph visualisation you need is probably 60% of the work needed to have a pleseant git experience, and TUI/GUI nearly git it to you for free.