gitreview

gitreview is a read-only terminal UI for reviewing the commits on your current branch relative to a base branch.

It is built for branch review inside the terminal:

• inspect commits ahead of main, master, or origin/HEAD
• toggle into recent HEAD history for merged/older commit review
• review a single commit diff
• select a contiguous commit range
• narrow a diff to a single file
• switch between a root repo and initialized submodules
• stay strictly read-only

Screenshots

Current Status

This repository contains a working v1 core implementation in Go.

Supported now:

• root repo plus initialized submodule browsing in one session
• commit list and diff viewer
• file list and file-filtered diffs
• contiguous range selection
• commit filter mode with /
• fullscreen diff and help overlay
• auto-detected base branch, with --base override
• toggleable capped history mode for large repos

Requirements

• Go 1.24.4+ to build from source
• git installed and available in PATH
• terminal size of at least 80x24

Build

Local build:

./rebuild.sh

That produces:

./gitreview

Print version:

./gitreview --version

Set the app version in one place:

• edit DefaultVersion in internal/version/version.go
• ./rebuild.sh and ./release.sh always build from that value
• release archive filenames are sanitized if needed, but the app version itself is embedded exactly as written
• the same version is used for --version output and the footer in the UI

Install

Install to /usr/local/bin:

./rebuild.sh --install

After installation:

gitreview
git gitreview

Usage

Run in the current repo:

gitreview

Run against an explicit repo path:

gitreview /path/to/repo

Override the detected base branch:

gitreview --base main
gitreview --base origin/main /path/to/repo

History review mode:

• press h to toggle between ahead-only review and recent HEAD history
• the header shows the active scope and either ahead: N or loaded: N
• history mode loads the most recent 300 commits first
• press ] to load 200 more history commits

Submodules

If you launch gitreview at a superproject root and initialized submodules are present, the left side will show a REPOS section above COMMITS.

Use that section to switch between:

• the root repository
• initialized submodules

Workflow:

• launch gitreview from the root repo
• tab to the REPOS panel
• move with j / k
• press enter or space to switch to that repo

Repos with ahead > 0 are highlighted in green so related branch work is easier to spot.

Keys

Global:

• tab / shift+tab: switch panels
• r: open the repo/submodule switcher overlay
• h: toggle ahead-only review vs recent HEAD history
• f: toggle fullscreen diff
• ?: open help
• q: quit

Repos panel:

• j / k or arrows: move
• g / G: jump to top / bottom
• enter or space: switch repo or submodule

Commits panel:

• j / k or arrows: move
• PgUp / PgDn: page
• g / G: jump to top / bottom
• space: start or update a contiguous commit selection
• enter: focus diff
• /: filter commits by subject or short SHA
• ]: load 200 more commits in history mode
• esc: clear selection or exit active filter mode

Files panel:

• j / k or arrows: move
• PgUp / PgDn: page
• g / G: jump to top / bottom
• enter or space: filter the diff to the selected file
• esc: clear the active file filter

Diff panel:

• j / k or arrows: scroll
• PgUp / PgDn: page scroll
• g / G: jump to top / bottom

Development

Test:

GOCACHE="$(pwd)/.cache/go-build" go test ./...

Build:

GOCACHE="$(pwd)/.cache/go-build" go build ./cmd/gitreview

Release

Create local release archives:

./release.sh

This writes archives to dist/.

release.sh is optional but useful in the public repo if you want a simple, repeatable local release process. If you plan to publish binaries from GitHub Actions later, keep it: the script is still useful for local testing and manual releases.