vig
A Git TUI side-by-side diff viewer with vim-style keybindings.
Safe by design — vig only performs read operations and safe git commands (
git switch,git branch -d). Destructive operations like merge, rebase, or force delete are intentionally excluded.

Features
- Side-by-side diff view with syntax highlighting
- Branch selector with git log preview
- Compare working directory against any local branch
- Vim-style modes: Scroll, Normal, Visual, Visual-Line
- File tree with status indicators (A/D/M/R/?)
- Yank (copy) to system clipboard with vim motions
- Live file watching with auto-refresh
- Open files in external editor (
$EDITOR) - GitHub View — Browse Issues and Pull Requests (body, comments, reviews, CI status) via
ghCLI - Files View — yazi-like three-column file browser (parent / current / preview) with syntax-highlighted previews
- Docker View — Containers grouped by compose project, images, inspect summary and a live log tail via the
dockerCLI (read-only) - Procs View — read-only process tree with CPU / memory, listening ports and their owners, and a per-process detail
- Actions View — GitHub Actions workflow runs, their jobs and steps, and the job log via
gh run(read-only, no rerun / cancel) - Worktrees View — git worktrees and stashes at a glance, with the HEAD commit or the stash diff (side-by-side) in a preview pane
- Configurable layout, key bindings, and highlighting theme via
~/.config/vig/config.kdl
Installation
Homebrew
Pre-built binaries
Download a pre-built binary from the GitHub Releases page:
# Linux x86_64
|
# Linux aarch64
|
# macOS Apple Silicon
|
crates.io
Build from source
Requires: Rust toolchain, libgit2, libssl, pkg-config
Usage
Run in a Git repository:
Configuration
vig works out of the box. To change the layout, key bindings, or highlighting theme, drop a KDL
file at ~/.config/vig/config.kdl (or pass --config <path> / set
$VIG_CONFIG). Only the parts you write are overridden; everything else
keeps its default. A pages line picks which views are shown and their tab
order — pages you leave out are disabled.

// ~/.config/vig/config.kdl
theme "Solarized (dark)"
pages "git" "files" "worktrees" // only these three tabs, in this order
page "git" {
pane "file_tree" {
keys {
"o" "ExpandOrOpen" // add a binding
"Space" "None" // remove a binding
}
}
}
Layouts can be rearranged too (e.g. sidebar on the right). A broken config fails fast with the file path and line number rather than silently falling back to defaults. See docs/config.md for the full schema.
Key Bindings
View Switching
| Key | Action |
|---|---|
1 |
Switch to Git View |
2 |
Switch to GitHub View |
3 |
Switch to Files View |
4 |
Switch to Docker View |
5 |
Switch to Procs View |
6 |
Switch to Actions View |
7 |
Switch to Worktrees View |
Pane Navigation
| Key | Action |
|---|---|
Tab / Shift+Tab |
Cycle panes: Files → Branches → Reflog → GitLog → Diff |
h / l |
Move between adjacent upper panes (Files, Branches, Reflog) |
i |
Jump from upper pane to main pane (GitLog / Diff) |
Esc |
Return from main pane to previous upper pane |
Navigation
| Key | Action |
|---|---|
j / k |
Scroll down / up |
h / l |
Scroll left / right (in Diff view) |
gg |
Jump to top |
G |
Jump to bottom |
Ctrl+d / Ctrl+u |
Half page down / up |
Branch List

| Key | Action |
|---|---|
j / k |
Navigate branches (git log preview updates) |
Enter |
Action menu (switch / delete / set as diff base) |
/ |
Search branches |
Esc |
Clear search / Reset comparison to HEAD |
Git Log
| Key | Action |
|---|---|
j / k |
Navigate commits |
Ctrl+d / Ctrl+u |
Half page scroll |
g / G |
Top / Bottom |
y |
Copy commit hash |
o |
Open in GitHub |
/ |
Search commits |
Esc |
Clear search / Back to Branch List |
Reflog
| Key | Action |
|---|---|
j / k |
Navigate entries |
Ctrl+d / Ctrl+u |
Half page scroll |
g / G |
Top / Bottom |
Enter |
Set as diff base |
/ |
Search reflog |
Esc |
Clear search / Back to Branches |
Modes
| Key | Action |
|---|---|
i |
Enter Normal mode |
v |
Visual mode (character) |
V |
Visual-Line mode |
Esc |
Back to Scroll mode |
Yank (copy)

| Key | Action |
|---|---|
yy |
Yank line |
yw / ye / yb |
Yank word / end of word / word back |
y$ / y0 |
Yank to end / start of line |
y (in Visual) |
Yank selection |
Text objects are also supported: iw, aw, i", a", i(, a(, i{, a{
Search
| Key | Action |
|---|---|
/ |
Start search |
n |
Next match |
N |
Previous match |
Search works in all panes (DiffView, FileTree, CommitLog, Reflog). Case-insensitive.
GitHub View
Browse GitHub Issues and Pull Requests directly within vig. Requires GitHub CLI (gh) to be installed and authenticated.
Bodies and comments are rendered as Markdown (headings, lists, task lists, code, tables narrowed to fit the pane width where possible).
Sub-issues are listed under their parent issue as a tree, and PRs in a GitHub Stack (as created by gh stack) are nested bottom-to-top under the PR they build on.
| Key | Action |
|---|---|
h / l |
Switch between Issue List and PR List |
j / k |
Navigate list |
i / Enter |
Open detail view |
o |
Open in browser |
Esc |
Back to list |
Ctrl+d / Ctrl+u |
Half page scroll (detail view) |
g / G |
Top / Bottom |
r |
Refresh data |
Files View

A read-only file browser rooted at the repository. The left column shows the
parent directory, the middle the current one, and the right a preview of the
selected entry (syntax-highlighted text, or a listing for directories).
Entries get Nerd Font icons by file type; if your terminal font is not a
Nerd Font, put icons "none" in your config.
Images (PNG / JPEG / GIF / WebP) are previewed in the pane, with their format,
dimensions, size and the renderer in use on the first line. In terminals with a graphics protocol
(Kitty, WezTerm, Ghostty, iTerm2, or Sixel-capable ones such as foot) the image
is drawn at full resolution; elsewhere it falls back to unicode half-blocks.
image-preview "halfblocks" skips the terminal detection and "none" shows
only the metadata. Images over 20 MB are not decoded.
| Key | Action |
|---|---|
j / k |
Move selection (preview follows) |
l / → / Enter |
Enter directory / focus preview |
h / ← / Backspace |
Parent directory |
i |
Focus preview |
j / k / Ctrl+d / Ctrl+u (preview) |
Scroll |
h / Esc (preview) |
Back to file list |
/ n N |
Search file names |
e |
Open selected file in external editor |
o |
Open selected file or directory with the OS default app (open / xdg-open / explorer) |
O |
Open selected entry with an app you name (open -a <app> on macOS) |
r |
Re-read the current directory |
Docker View

A read-only view of the local Docker daemon, built on the docker CLI's JSON
output (docker ps, docker images, docker inspect, docker logs). If
docker is not installed or the daemon is not running, the view shows a notice
instead of the panes. Containers are grouped under their compose project
(running ones first), the detail pane shows an inspect summary for the selected
container or image, and the logs pane tails the selected container
(--tail 200, then --since appends every second while following). The lists
refresh every 5 seconds. Environment variables are never displayed, and nothing
in this view starts, stops or removes anything.
| Key | Action |
|---|---|
j / k |
Move selection (detail and logs follow) |
i / Enter |
Focus the detail pane |
l (containers) |
Focus the logs pane |
Tab / Shift+Tab |
Cycle panes: Containers → Images → Detail → Logs |
j / k / Ctrl+d / Ctrl+u (detail, logs) |
Scroll (scrolling the logs pauses following) |
G (logs) |
Jump to the end and resume following |
/ n N |
Search container / image names, or log lines |
h / Esc (detail, logs) |
Back to the list |
r |
Re-fetch containers, images, detail and logs |
Procs View

A read-only view of what is running: the processes as a tree by parent pid
with CPU % and resident memory, the listening TCP / UDP ports with the
process that owns each one, and a detail of the selected process (pid, ppid,
user, state, uptime, CPU / memory, full command line, cwd, executable,
children, listening ports). Values that need privileges you do not have are
shown as (no access); environment variables are never read or displayed.
The view only inspects — it never sends a signal.
Processes come from sysinfo; ports from
lsof on macOS and ss on Linux. Both are re-read every 2 seconds while the
view is shown (procs-refresh-interval in the config) and on r.
| Key | Action |
|---|---|
j / k / Ctrl+d / Ctrl+u / g / G |
Move in the process tree (detail follows) |
s |
Cycle the sort: CPU → MEM → PID (shown in the pane title) |
Enter / i / l |
Focus the detail pane |
/ n N |
Search command lines (processes) or address / port / name (ports) |
Tab / Shift+Tab |
Cycle panes: Processes → Ports → Detail |
Enter (ports) |
Jump to the process that owns the port |
j / k / Ctrl+d / Ctrl+u (detail) |
Scroll |
h / Esc (detail) |
Back to the process list |
r |
Refresh now |
Actions View

A read-only view of the repository's GitHub Actions, built on the gh CLI
(gh run list, gh run view --json jobs, gh run view --log --job). If gh
is not installed or not authenticated, the view shows a notice instead of the
panes. The runs pane lists the latest 50 workflow runs with their status,
workflow, run number, branch, event, duration (elapsed while running) and age;
while any run is queued or in progress the list refreshes every 5 seconds. The
jobs pane shows the selected run's jobs with their steps nested underneath
(failed steps in red), and the log pane shows one job's log with step
boundaries and ##[group] markers rendered as section lines. Logs of jobs
that are still running are polled every 5 seconds and followed like a tail.
Nothing in this view reruns, cancels or deletes anything.
| Key | Action |
|---|---|
j / k |
Move selection (jobs follow the selected run) |
i / Enter (runs) |
Focus the jobs pane |
i / Enter (jobs) |
Show the job's log (a step row scrolls to that step) |
o |
Open the run / job in the browser |
Tab / Shift+Tab |
Cycle panes: Runs → Jobs → Log |
j / k / Ctrl+d / Ctrl+u (log) |
Scroll (pauses following for a running job) |
G (log) |
Jump to the end and resume following |
] / [ (log) |
Next / previous failed step |
/ n N |
Search workflow / branch / event, job and step names, or log lines |
h / Esc (jobs, log) |
Back to the previous pane |
r |
Re-fetch runs, jobs and the log |
Worktrees View

A read-only overview of the repository's worktrees and stashes. The top-left
pane lists the worktrees (git worktree list) with their path — relative to
the main worktree where possible — the checked-out branch (or a detached
HEAD), and flags such as [main], [locked], [prunable] or [bare]; the
worktree vig is running in is marked with *. The bottom-left pane lists the
stashes (stash@{n}, message, the branch they were made on and how long ago).
The preview on the right follows the selection: for a worktree it shows the HEAD commit (hash, author, date, subject) and its changed files; for a stash it shows the stash's patch, including untracked files it carries, in the same side-by-side diff view as the Git view — syntax highlighting, search, and Normal / Visual mode with yank work there. Nothing is ever applied, dropped, added or removed from this view.
| Key | Action |
|---|---|
Tab / Shift+Tab |
Cycle panes: Worktrees → Stashes → Preview |
j / k |
Move selection (preview follows) |
i / l / Enter |
Focus the preview |
j / k / Ctrl+d / Ctrl+u (preview) |
Scroll |
h / l (preview) |
Scroll the diff horizontally |
[ / ] (preview) |
Previous / next file in a multi-file stash |
i (preview) |
Normal mode in the stash diff (v / V / y as in the Git view) |
Esc / Backspace (preview) |
Back to the list |
/ n N |
Search paths / branches (worktrees), messages / branches (stashes), or the diff |
r |
Re-read worktrees and stashes |
Other
| Key | Action |
|---|---|
Enter / Space |
Open file / Toggle directory |
e |
Open in external editor |
r |
Refresh diff and branches |
? |
Show help |
q / Ctrl+c |
Quit |
Development
Setup
Pre-commit hooks
Managed by prek:
cargo fmt --checkcargo clippy- Trailing whitespace, EOF fixer, TOML/YAML check, merge conflict check, large file check
- GIF freshness check (tape modified → gif must be re-recorded)
CI
GitHub Actions runs on push to main and pull requests:
- prek hooks (fmt + clippy)
cargo testcargo build
License
MIT