GitFocal

A no-frills Visual Studio Code extension for Git. GitFocal adds four focused views to the Source Control sidebar: Branches, Remotes, Stashes, and Tags. It shells out to your local git, keeps runtime dependencies at zero, and is written in JavaScript.

Features

Branches view

• Lists local branches with current-branch indicator, ahead/behind counts, and upstream info
• Filter branches by name and sort by name or most recent commit
• Shows a warning entry when HEAD is detached
• Expanding a branch shows recent commits
• Inline actions: checkout, fetch, pull, push, publish branch, reset current branch
• Pull offers rebase/merge when branches have diverged; push offers force-with-lease when rejected
• Context menu: create from, rename, delete (with force), merge, rebase, squash, reset, change upstream, copy branch name/upstream/commit hash
• Commit actions: edit message (reword), cherry-pick, revert, create tag at commit, copy commit hash
• Toggle to hide submodule repositories from the Branches view

Worktrees

• A Worktrees group in the Branches view lists each worktree with its branch and main/current/locked/prunable state
• Add a worktree for an existing or new branch (from a branch's context menu or the view title), then open it in a new window or add it to the workspace
• Remove (with force fallback for dirty worktrees), lock/unlock, and prune worktrees, or copy a worktree's path
• Branches checked out in another worktree are marked with ⌂ and offer Open Worktree in New Window instead of checkout/delete
• Refreshes also react to checkouts and ref changes made in linked worktrees

Remotes view

• Groups remote-tracking branches by remote and shows recent commits for each branch
• Filter remote branches by name from the view title
• Checkout a remote branch as a new local branch or create a local branch from it
• Fetch a specific remote, add remotes, and copy remote names or URLs
• Branch actions include merge, rebase, cherry-pick, reset, tag-at-commit, and copy commit hash
• Toggle to hide submodule repositories from the Remotes view

Stashes view

• Lists stashes per repository and expands each stash to show changed files
• Open diffs, apply, pop, rename, and delete stashes
• Restore an individual file from a stash
• Stash changes from the view title or stash all / staged / unstaged / selected changes from SCM resource menus
• Toggle to hide submodule repositories from the Stashes view

Tags view

• Lists tags per repository with commit/date details, annotated-tag indicator, and origin sync status
• Filter tags by name from the view title
• Create lightweight or annotated tags at HEAD, another ref, or directly from a branch commit
• Checkout, rename, delete, and delete remote tags
• Push tags when they are missing on origin or point to a different commit there; matching tags are shown as already synced
• Push all tags to a remote and fetch tags from the view title menu
• Copy tag name or tagged commit hash

Shared behavior

• View title commands for refresh, create branch, add remote, stash changes, create tag, and fetch all repositories
• Focused refresh and fetch-all keybindings for the SCM views
• Auto-fetch on a configurable interval (default 5 min); paused while the window is unfocused
• Auto-detects git or accepts an explicit path via gitfocal.gitPath

Requirements

• git 2.24 or newer (2.35+ for Stash Staged Changes)

Configuration

Setting	Default	Description
gitfocal.refreshDebounceMs	500	Debounce delay (ms) for filesystem-watcher refreshes
gitfocal.autoFetchIntervalMinutes	5	Interval for git fetch --all --prune. 0 disables
gitfocal.gitPath	""	Optional explicit path to the git executable
gitfocal.checkoutOnClick	true	Checkout a branch on single click in the Branches view. Disable to require the inline button or context menu
gitfocal.branches.sortBy	"name"	Sort local branches by name or commitDate (most recent first)

Keybindings

Command	Shortcut
Refresh focused GitFocal view	Ctrl+Alt+R / Cmd+Alt+R
Fetch all repositories from Branches view	Ctrl+Alt+F / Cmd+Alt+F

Running Tests

Unit tests use Node's built-in test runner (node:test) with a stubbed vscode API — no test dependencies. They cover the git CLI output parsing, command construction, state management, tree providers, and utilities.

node --test "test/**/*.test.cjs"
# or
npm test

With Deno:

deno test --allow-read test/

CI runs the suite on push and PR via .github/workflows/test.yml.

Building the VSIX

GitFocal has no transpile step. The extension runs directly from src/, and packaging is done with @vscode/vsce.

Prerequisites

• git on PATH
• Node.js 18+ for npx, or Deno for the alternate packaging command

Package

npx @vscode/vsce package -o build

Alternative with Deno:

deno run -A npm:@vscode/vsce package -o build --no-dependencies

The resulting gitfocal-<version>.vsix is written to the build/ directory.

You can also run the bundled VS Code tasks:

• Terminal → Run Task… → create-package
• Terminal → Run Task… → create-package-deno

Install the VSIX locally

code --install-extension build/gitfocal-<version>.vsix

CI

.github/workflows/package.yml builds the VSIX on push, PR, and tag, and uploads it as a workflow artifact.

Project Layout

src/
  extension.js              # activation entry point
  commands/                 # command handlers for tree items and view titles
  git/                      # git CLI wrapper + types
  models/                   # state, preferences, repository state
  providers/                # tree data providers (branches, remotes, stashes, tags)
  ui/                       # icons and decorations
  utils/                    # debounce, git path resolver, repo filters
test/
  helpers/                  # vscode API stub + module-resolution bootstrap
  *.test.cjs                # unit tests (node --test / deno test)

TODO

• Better support for submodules
• Group local branches by prefix (feature/, fix/, …)
• Unit tests for gitService and providers
• Unit tests for the remaining providers (remotes, stashes, tags) and command handlers
• Publish to the VS Code Marketplace

License

See LICENSE.