{"slug": "gitlens", "name": "GitLens", "category": "browsers", "category_name": "Browsers and extensions", "description": "", "recommenders": 3, "commenters": 4, "warners": 0, "score": 2.781, "rising": -0.98, "first": "2025-11-22", "latest": "2026-07-25", "why": "some extensions I love in VSCode such as Markdown All In One and GitLens", "why_is_quote": true, "has_verdict": false, "sentiment": {"recommend": 3, "neutral": 0, "compare": 1, "warn": 0}, "spark": [1, 0, 0, 0, 1, 0, 0, 0, 1, 0, 0, 0], "listed": true, "loved": [], "caveat": "", "short_quote": "some extensions I love in VSCode such as Markdown All In One and GitLens", "kind": "", "icon": true, "domain": null, "github_repo": null, "official_url": "https://www.gitkraken.com/gitlens", "pricing": "", "aliases": ["GitLens"], "verdict": null, "praise": [{"label": "", "summary": "", "quotes": [{"id": 784870064, "item_id": 49054379, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49054379", "by": "maxloh", "date": "2026-07-25", "version": null, "stance": "recommend", "quote": "to be a good abstraction for interactive rebase", "excerpt": "I found the VS Code GitLens extension to be a good abstraction for interactive rebase. It provides a drag-and-drop UI with a dropdown to select actions applied to each commit. That is much easier than editing a text file. Here's a GIF I found with Google: https://yogwang.site/2025/cursor-vscode-gitlens-rebase-editor/rebase.gif", "context": "", "use_case": "Interactive git rebase", "switched_from": "", "story": "Git rebase -I is not that scary"}, {"id": 756299651, "item_id": 47268728, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47268728", "by": "hu3", "date": "2026-03-05", "version": null, "stance": "recommend", "quote": "some extensions I love in VSCode such as Markdown All In One and GitLens", "excerpt": "To me it's just a Sublime with AI. Except Sublime doesn't eat my RAM. Very fast but not enough features to use on a daily basis. And they lack some extensions I love in VSCode such as Markdown All In One and GitLens. They have a big battle against the large ecosystem of VSCode extensions. And then there's JetBrains which is on another level of refactoring/features.", "context": "", "use_case": "", "switched_from": "", "story": "Zed new terms required to be 18 years old"}, {"id": 736312592, "item_id": 46019537, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46019537", "by": "n8cpdx", "date": "2025-11-22", "version": null, "stance": "recommend", "quote": "Tools like gitlens make this really easy.", "excerpt": "It probably depends on the codebase, but I find the best motivation for writing solid commit messages is reading commit messages. Tools like gitlens make this really easy. Almost daily, I use commit messages and history as part of understanding why a decision was made, why a seemingly obvious alternative wasn\u2019t chosen, etc. seeing the commit title on every line, and hovering to see the full message has become a core ", "context": "", "use_case": "reading commit history in editor", "switched_from": "", "story": "Show HN: Build the habit of writing meaningful commit messages"}]}], "caveats": [], "who": [], "tags": [], "use_cases": ["interactive git rebase", "reading commit history in editor"], "compared": [{"slug": "zed", "name": "Zed", "co": 2, "switched_from": 0, "switched_to": 0}], "makers": [], "threads": [{"url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49053385", "title": "Git rebase -I is not that scary", "mentions": 1}, {"url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47866750", "title": "Parallel Agents in Zed", "mentions": 1}, {"url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47258064", "title": "Zed new terms required to be 18 years old", "mentions": 1}, {"url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46018165", "title": "Show HN: Build the habit of writing meaningful commit messages", "mentions": 1}], "sentiment_by_month": {"2025-11": {"recommend": 1}, "2025-12": {}, "2026-01": {}, "2026-02": {}, "2026-03": {"recommend": 1}, "2026-04": {"compare": 1}, "2026-05": {}, "2026-06": {}, "2026-07": {"recommend": 1}, "2026-08": {}, "2026-09": {}, "2026-10": {}}, "versions": [], "version_unnamed": 0, "family_ref": null, "runs_on": null, "lines": [], "quotes": [{"id": 784870064, "item_id": 49054379, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49054379", "by": "maxloh", "date": "2026-07-25", "version": null, "stance": "recommend", "quote": "to be a good abstraction for interactive rebase", "excerpt": "I found the VS Code GitLens extension to be a good abstraction for interactive rebase. It provides a drag-and-drop UI with a dropdown to select actions applied to each commit. That is much easier than editing a text file. Here's a GIF I found with Google: https://yogwang.site/2025/cursor-vscode-gitlens-rebase-editor/rebase.gif", "context": "", "use_case": "Interactive git rebase", "switched_from": "", "story": "Git rebase -I is not that scary"}, {"id": 765956289, "item_id": 47872268, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47872268", "by": "pastel8739", "date": "2026-04-22", "version": null, "stance": "compare", "quote": "I'd love a \"line history\" view like GitLens has, as well.", "excerpt": "I use zed every day, but the git view is still buggy and unreliable for me. It often chooses the wrong folder---a subfolder rather than the root of my git project---and shows that there are no changes. And sometimes, even when the right folder is selected, it will still incorrectly say there are no changes. Another bug is that clicking on new files in the git UI doesn't bring up their diff---you need to click them tw", "context": "", "use_case": "", "switched_from": "", "story": "Parallel Agents in Zed"}, {"id": 756299651, "item_id": 47268728, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47268728", "by": "hu3", "date": "2026-03-05", "version": null, "stance": "recommend", "quote": "some extensions I love in VSCode such as Markdown All In One and GitLens", "excerpt": "To me it's just a Sublime with AI. Except Sublime doesn't eat my RAM. Very fast but not enough features to use on a daily basis. And they lack some extensions I love in VSCode such as Markdown All In One and GitLens. They have a big battle against the large ecosystem of VSCode extensions. And then there's JetBrains which is on another level of refactoring/features.", "context": "", "use_case": "", "switched_from": "", "story": "Zed new terms required to be 18 years old"}, {"id": 736312592, "item_id": 46019537, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46019537", "by": "n8cpdx", "date": "2025-11-22", "version": null, "stance": "recommend", "quote": "Tools like gitlens make this really easy.", "excerpt": "It probably depends on the codebase, but I find the best motivation for writing solid commit messages is reading commit messages. Tools like gitlens make this really easy. Almost daily, I use commit messages and history as part of understanding why a decision was made, why a seemingly obvious alternative wasn\u2019t chosen, etc. seeing the commit title on every line, and hovering to see the full message has become a core ", "context": "", "use_case": "reading commit history in editor", "switched_from": "", "story": "Show HN: Build the habit of writing meaningful commit messages"}]}