Quinjet

A fast, live, keyboard-first Git source-control interface for the terminal, written in Rust.

Quinjet discovers the containing Git repository from any nested directory, watches it for changes, and combines a VS Code-inspired changes list with syntax-highlighted diffs and commit history. Navigation and rendering remain independent from Git subprocess latency.

Features

• Live working-tree, index, conflict, branch, and ahead/behind refresh
• Scrollable staged, unstaged, untracked, renamed, deleted, and conflict groups
• Visible, clickable per-file and per-group stage/unstage actions with immediate authoritative refresh
• Syntax highlighting for TypeScript/TSX, Rust, Python, Go, JavaScript, and hundreds of other formats
• Unified and draggable side-by-side diff panes
• Index-first, lazy per-file patches for changes, commits, branch comparisons, stashes, and PRs
• Compact change hunks by default; t expands the selected file to full context
• Paginated, branch-scoped commit history with a view-only local/remote branch picker that never checks out
• On-demand pull-request lookup by number—no startup prefetch and no repository-wide PR listing
• PR title, source/destination branches, state, totals, a virtualized changed-file tree, and lazy per-file diffs
• Live PR checks that refresh silently in the background without moving the diff viewport
• Reused local PR workspaces across multiple fetch/push remotes and forks—no checkout or persistent source refs
• Current-branch comparison with any local or remote-tracking branch, without checkout
• Named, staged-only, untracked-inclusive, preview, apply, pop, drop, and clear stash workflows
• Commit, amend, fetch, pull, push, sync, cherry-pick, and revert
• Local branch switching, creation, rename, deletion, and creation at a selected commit
• Natural mouse scrolling, clickable rows, and draggable pane dividers
• Keyboard-first filtering, command palette, modal text editing, and accessibility help
• Persistent collapse/expand preference while moving among changes, commits, PRs, and views
• Coalesced background Git work, stale-result rejection, bounded output, and a private metadata cache

Installation

Install script

On Linux or macOS:

curl --proto '=https' --tlsv1.2 -LsSf https://quinjet.pulkit.page/install.sh | sh

On Windows PowerShell:

powershell -c "irm https://quinjet.pulkit.page/install.ps1 | iex"

The installer detects the operating system and CPU architecture, downloads the matching binary from the latest GitHub release, verifies its SHA-256 checksum, and adds the installation directory to PATH when needed. It does not require Rust or Cargo.

Pass --version or --bin-dir to the shell installer to select a release or installation directory:

curl --proto '=https' --tlsv1.2 -LsSf https://quinjet.pulkit.page/install.sh | sh -s -- --version v0.0.1

The equivalent PowerShell environment variables are QUINJET_VERSION and QUINJET_INSTALL_DIR.

Cargo

From crates.io:

cargo install quinjet

From the latest source:

cargo install --git https://github.com/pulkitxm/quinjet --locked

Git is required at runtime. A terminal with true-color support is recommended. The Pull Requests view additionally requires the GitHub CLI with an authenticated account (gh auth login). All non-GitHub features remain available without gh.

Usage

Run from any directory inside a Git repository:

quinjet

Quinjet asks Git for the top-level repository, so running it from project/apps/web/src still displays every change in project. You can also provide a path explicitly:

quinjet /path/to/project

Mouse capture can be disabled without losing functionality:

quinjet --no-mouse

Changes, staging, branch comparison, and stashes

The Changes view follows the VS Code SCM grouping model: conflicts, staged changes, and working-tree changes are separate selectable groups. Every file row has a visible [+], [−], or [!] action, and group headers expose stage-all/unstage-all actions. The bottom toolbar provides Commit, Stashes, Stage All, Unstage All, and Compare Branch entry points. Keyboard equivalents remain available.

All local code views are index-first. Quinjet enumerates paths and immediately renders stable collapsed file headers, then loads only the first file in the background. Expanding another header requests only that path and keeps the result cached for the current view; it never calculates the complete patch up front. Click a file header or focus the preview and press Space to expand it. A single-file preview always stays expanded and shows no collapse control.

Press d (or run Compare Current Branch With… from the command palette) to select a local or remote-tracking branch. Quinjet indexes the read-only comparison between that branch and HEAD; it does not check out the branch or modify the index/worktree. Background status refreshes and collapse/expand actions do not restart or replace an active comparison. Press Esc to return to the selected working-tree diff.

Press S to open the stash manager. It lists stash reference, message, source branch, commit, and age. Enter previews a stash; Ctrl+N, Ctrl+U, and Ctrl+S create a normal, untracked-inclusive, or staged-only stash; Alt+A applies, Alt+P pops, Delete drops one, and Ctrl+Delete drops all after confirmation. The command palette exposes the same creation and latest-pop flows.

History branches

History starts at the currently checked-out branch instead of mixing every ref into one log. In the History view, press b to choose any local or remote-tracking branch. This changes only the revision passed to git log; Quinjet does not run git switch, move HEAD, touch the index/worktree, or create a temporary ref. Selecting a commit indexes its changed paths first and lazily loads individual file patches. The checked-out branch remains visible in the top bar while the viewed branch appears in the History panel title. Press B when you explicitly want the checkout branch picker.

Pull requests, remotes, and cache

Press 3, enter a positive PR number, and press Enter. That explicit action is the first time Quinjet performs any GitHub request: startup and tab switching never list, prefetch, or auto-fetch pull requests. Quinjet lazily discovers the most appropriate configured GitHub repository and fetches only that PR's metadata. It then prepares a local Git comparison and enumerates the complete changed-file index without downloading one giant patch. The right side initially shows the all-files index; selecting a tree file switches it to an expanded single-file preview, and clicking the Files tab (or pressing F) returns to all files. Press C for checks. Every file and folder is selectable; click a folder or use Left/Right, h/l, Enter, or Space to collapse and expand it. Selecting or expanding a file asks Git for only that path's patch; rapid selections coalesce and stale results are discarded, so a PR with one file and a PR with thousands use the same stable layout. Checks refresh silently every ten seconds while the PR is open. Press o to discover or choose a configured remote repository, and r to refetch the current PR.

Quinjet supports fork setups such as origin pointing to your fork and upstream to the base, separate push URLs, deleted fork heads exposed through GitHub's PR ref, and GitHub Enterprise hosts configured in gh. PR patches are not downloaded with gh pr diff: when both immutable OIDs already exist locally, Quinjet diffs them directly with no network request. Otherwise it creates one disposable bare workspace for the opened PR, shallow/partial-fetches the fixed base and PR-head refs, deepens only as needed to find the merge base, and reuses that workspace for every selected file. The opened repository is never checked out or given temporary branches/refs.

Successful gh repository-identity and exact-PR responses are cached atomically. The cache is bounded to 32 MiB / 256 entries and stores metadata only—not credentials, Git objects, or patches. It lives under $XDG_CACHE_HOME/quinjet/github (or ~/.cache/quinjet/github), ~/Library/Caches/quinjet/github on macOS, and %LOCALAPPDATA%\quinjet\cache\github on Windows. Set QUINJET_CACHE_DIR to choose a different root. Cache directories/files use private permissions where supported; r bypasses fresh cache entries, while a stale entry can keep the view useful during a transient gh failure.

Branch rename is local and deliberately does not delete or create remote branches. Open the checkout branch picker with b outside History (or B anywhere), select a branch, and press F2 or Ctrl+R; its existing upstream configuration is preserved by Git.

Keyboard

The UI intentionally stays uncluttered; press ? for the complete shortcut reference.

Drag the divider between the file list and preview to resize the main panes. In side-by-side mode, drag the center divider to resize old/new sides. Double-click either divider to restore that split to its default size.

Text fields support Unicode-safe editing plus familiar terminal and macOS motions: Option/Ctrl+Arrow moves by word, Option/Ctrl+Delete removes a word, Command+Arrow moves to a line boundary, Command+Delete removes to a line boundary, and Ctrl+A/E/B/F/W/U/K are supported.

Performance and Safety

• Rendering and key handling never invoke Git directly.
• Fixed, coalescing mailboxes replace obsolete reads; local previews, PR/network previews, and background metadata run independently so one slow request cannot block tab switching.
• Filesystem event storms collapse into authoritative status snapshots.
• Preview requests carry generations so stale replies are ignored.
• Working-tree groups, commits, branch comparisons, and stashes first use bounded path indexes; only selected files produce patches, through capped subprocess pipes.
• Syntax grammar work is bounded to 512 KiB per patch and 32 KiB per row. Larger generated patches retain diff coloring but use plain source spans, preventing highlighting—not Git—from dominating load time; collapsed cached files also keep only their headers in the combined document.
• History is paginated for one explicit branch revision; choosing another branch is read-only.
• No pull-request command is queued at startup or when the PR tab opens. Only an explicit positive-number lookup contacts GitHub, and refreshing refetches only that PR.
• On-demand repository discovery inspects at most 32 Git remotes, 64 configured fetch/push URL entries (32 distinct URLs), and 16 GitHub repositories.
• PR file indexes are capped at 16,384 paths / 8 MiB. Each selected file has an independent 8 MiB patch cap; the full PR patch is never materialized. Potentially large subprocess output is streamed and the child is terminated at the cap.
• The changed-file tree is virtualized: render cost follows terminal height rather than PR size. Rapid file selections coalesce into the newest per-file Git diff with no loading-layout replacement.
• PR previews use locally available immutable OIDs first. Missing Git history deepens only to 4,096 commits in one reusable disposable bare repository. No checkout, worktree mutation, or persistent source-repository ref is used.
• Cached gh metadata is bounded to 32 MiB and 256 entries; exact PR entries live for five minutes.
• Git and gh receive argument arrays directly, never shell-concatenated commands; embedded remote credentials are stripped before URLs become gh arguments.
• Destructive operations are confirmed where appropriate.
• Hooks, credentials, signing, filters, and repository semantics remain delegated to the installed Git CLI.

See ARCHITECTURE.md for implementation details.

Contributing

Contributions are welcome. Read CONTRIBUTING.md, the Code of Conduct, and Security Policy before opening a pull request or report.

cargo fmt --all -- --check
cargo clippy --all-targets --all-features -- -D warnings
cargo test --all-features
cargo build --release --locked

License

Quinjet is available under the MIT License.