vig
A read-only TUI cockpit for busy repositories — git, GitHub issues / PRs / CI runs / project boards, containers, processes and worktrees at a glance, with vim-style keybindings. Built for keeping an eye on repos where the work is happening — including ones where AI agents do it. (The name comes from vim + git; everything stays rooted at the current repository.)
📖 User Guide — installation, a tour of every view, the full configuration guide and reference, and troubleshooting (also readable in-repo under docs/guide/)
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, Pull Requests (body, comments, reviews, CI status) and Actions workflow runs (jobs / steps, job logs) via
ghCLI, read-only - 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, system CPU / memory history graphs and a per-process detail with CPU / RSS sparklines
- Worktrees View — git worktrees and stashes at a glance, with the HEAD commit or the stash diff (side-by-side) in a preview pane
- Projects View — the GitHub Projects (v2) boards linked to the repository: kanban columns by
Status, a sortable table mode and an item detail with every project field, via theghCLI (read-only) - 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 something, drop a KDL file at
~/.config/vig/config.kdl — only the parts you write are overridden;
everything else keeps its default:

// ~/.config/vig/config.kdl
theme "Solarized (dark)"
page "git" {
pane "file_tree" {
keys {
"o" "ExpandOrOpen" // add a binding
}
}
}
📖 Everything else — tabs, layouts, keybindings, per-repository .vig.kdl,
the full schema — lives in the User Guide:
Configuration Basics ·
Config Recipes ·
Config Reference
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 Worktrees View |
7 |
Switch to Projects 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 |
Y |
Copy commit URL |
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, Pull Requests and Actions workflow runs 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.
The issue and PR lists refresh themselves when something changes: every github-poll-interval vig sends one conditional request (a 304 answer costs no API points) and re-fetches the lists only when the answer moves.
The third column lists the latest 50 workflow runs (gh run list) 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 (github-poll-interval in the config). Selecting a run fills the detail area with its jobs and their steps
nested underneath (failed steps in red) in the Jobs sub-pane; Enter on a
job or step loads that job's log into the Log sub-pane, with step
boundaries and ##[group] markers rendered as section lines. Logs of jobs
that are still running are polled at the same interval and followed like a
tail. When GitHub rejects a request as rate-limited, the page suspends its
polling with an exponential backoff (30s up to 10 minutes) and shows
⚠ GitHub rate limited (resets in Nm) in the status bar; r retries
immediately and a successful fetch clears the backoff.
Nothing in this view reruns, cancels or deletes anything.
| Key | Action |
|---|---|
h / l |
Switch between the Issues, Pull Requests and Workflow Runs columns |
Tab / Shift+Tab |
Cycle the columns (in a detail view: its sub-panes) |
j / k |
Navigate list (the detail follows the selection) |
i / Enter |
Open detail view |
o |
Open in browser (issue, PR, run or the selected job) |
y |
Copy the item URL |
Esc |
Back to list |
h / l (detail) |
Body ↔ right-hand sub-panes; for a run: Jobs ↔ Log |
i / Enter (run detail, Jobs) |
Show the job's log (a step row scrolls to that step) |
] / [ (run detail) |
Next / previous failed step in the log |
G (run detail, Log) |
Jump to the end and resume following |
/ n N |
Search: #number / title, workflow / branch / event, or in a run detail the job and step names / log lines |
Ctrl+d / Ctrl+u |
Half page scroll (detail view) |
g / G |
Top / Bottom |
r |
Refresh data (in a detail view: only that item; a run re-fetches its jobs and log) |
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.
Markdown files (.md / .markdown) are rendered in the preview — headings,
emphasis, lists, code and GFM tables fitted to the pane width. m toggles
back to the raw highlighted text, and markdown-preview "raw" makes raw the
default.
| 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 / l (preview) |
Scroll long lines horizontally |
/ n N (preview) |
Search the file contents (matches highlighted, view follows) |
Esc (preview) |
Clear the search / back to the 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) |
m |
Toggle Markdown rendering in the preview |
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.
The System pane on top graphs the machine totals as btop-style filled area
charts: the global CPU % (with the recent peak) and the used memory over the
last procs-history samples (120 by default — 4 minutes at the 2 s
interval), plus a Swp line when swap is present. Every sample column is
colored by its load — green below 50 %, yellow from 50 %, red from 80 % —
and the percentage labels carry the same color. c swaps the CPU chart for
one small gauge per core in the same gradient. The charts fill from the
right until the buffer is full, sample while the view is shown, and always
cover the whole machine — they draw numbers only. The detail pane adds the
same history for the selected process: a colored CPU % area chart and a
resident-memory chart under the CPU / MEM fields.
| 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) |
c |
Toggle the CPU graph: history ⇄ one bar per core |
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 → System |
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 |
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 |
Projects View

A read-only board for the GitHub Projects (v2) linked to the current
repository (gh repo view --json projectsV2), with the board itself fetched over GraphQL (a few points per board). While the page is shown the board is probed every projects-poll-interval (30 s, one point: the project's updatedAt) and re-fetched only when it changed. The board takes the
full width and the first linked project shows up right away: one column per
Status option in GitHub's order, plus a No status column for items
without one. With several linked projects the header reads
Board: <title> (i/n) and p / P cycle through them; with none the
board explains how to link one (the repository's Projects tab or
gh project link). A top-level projects-board config node pins the page
to one board, by title or project number
(Config Reference). Cards show the item type (● issue, ⇅ pull request,
✎ draft), number, title and assignees; a card whose item lives in another
repository carries a dimmed owner/repo prefix before its number. t
switches to a table with one row per item and the project's fields (Status,
Priority, Estimate, Iteration, dates, custom text / number fields) as
sortable columns. The detail pane lists every field value of the selected
item, then the issue / PR body and comments as in the GitHub view (drafts
show their body). Past 500 items the status bar says (truncated).
A projects list pane also exists but is not placed by the built-in
layout. Placing it in your config gets a selectable list of the linked
projects back — see the
guide's recipe
for the layout to paste.
gh project needs the project token scope. When it is missing the view
shows a notice instead of the panes: run gh auth refresh -s project, then
press r. Nothing in this view adds, moves, edits or deletes anything.
| Key | Action |
|---|---|
p / P |
Next / previous linked project |
h / l, ← / → (board) |
Previous / next column (table mode: sort column) |
j / k (board) |
Move between cards in a column (table mode: rows) |
t (board) |
Toggle table mode |
s (board, table mode) |
Cycle the sort column |
Enter / i (board) |
Focus the detail |
v / V |
Next / previous saved view of the project |
Space |
Collapse / expand the selected swimlane (grouped board views) |
+ / - |
Zoom the roadmap time scale in / out |
o |
Open the project / item in the browser |
y |
Copy the project / item URL |
j / k / Ctrl+d / Ctrl+u (detail) |
Scroll |
h / Esc (detail) |
Back to the board |
Tab / Shift+Tab |
Cycle panes: Board → Detail |
/ n N |
Search item titles / numbers across columns |
r |
Re-read the linked projects, the board and the shown item |
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