Git Worklists

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Git Worklists is a Visual Studio Code extension that provides a lightweight, Git-focused workflow for organizing changes, staging files, committing, pushing, and managing stashes, all through a dedicated, predictable UI.

It is designed for developers who want explicit control over staging, commits, amend, push, and stash workflows, without relying on VS Code’s built-in Source Control view.

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Demo

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Features

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Changelists View

A structured way to organize and stage changes.

• Displays Changes and Unversioned files clearly

• Shows file count badges per worklist

• Unversioned files are detected via git ls-files --others --exclude-standard

• Untracked directories are not shown as placeholder entries

• Files are displayed in Source Control style:

  • File name as primary label
  • Folder path shown as description

• Create, move, and delete custom changelists

• Move files between changelists (per file or per group)

• Move selected files to another changelist

• File-level and group-level checkboxes for staging / unstaging

• State-aware inline action:

  • Shows Stage when file is unstaged
  • Shows Unstage when file is staged

• Stage All / Unstage All per changelist

• Visual file decorations (badges)

• Decorations are automatically refreshed after commit or push (no stale indicators)

• File context menu actions:

  • Open Diff (HEAD <-> Working Tree)
  • Open Source File (jump directly to the working tree file)
  • Discard
  • Move to Changelist

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Diff Integration

• Click a file row to open a HEAD <-> Working Tree diff

• Clicking a file does NOT change staging state

• Diff view works correctly for:

  • Initial commit (no parent commit)
  • Newly added files
  • Renamed files
  • Missing parent references

• Dedicated Close Diff Tabs button in the view title

• Optional automatic closing of diff tabs after:

  • Commit
  • Push

• Automatic reconciliation with Git status

• Files move automatically between:

  • Unversioned when newly created
  • Changes when tracked / modified

• Optional prompt when new files are created:

  • Add to Git (stages file and moves it to Changes)
  • Keep Unversioned
  • Disable prompt

• Safe behavior when staging / unstaging newly created files

• Newly added (staged) files require confirmation before permanent deletion

• Changelist-level Discard All Changes action:

  • Categorized confirmation (unversioned / newly added / tracked)
  • Safe bulk restore using git restore
  • Permanent deletion confirmation for unversioned files

All staging state reflects the actual Git index.

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Commit Panel

A focused commit experience separate from VS Code SCM.

• Custom Commit Message field

• Commit message draft is automatically preserved

• Live staged file counter

• Inline warning when attempting to commit with no staged files

• Amend support

  • Supports message-only amend (no staged files required)
  • Handles empty-amend edge cases safely
  • Amend checkbox automatically resets after a successful commit or commit & push

• Commit

• Commit & Push

• Push-only support (push existing local commits even if nothing is staged)

• Safe confirmation before force-with-lease push

• Automatic upstream setup for new local branches

• Push preview panel when multiple outgoing commits exist:

  • Shows commit hashes and subjects before pushing
  • Requires explicit confirmation

• Clear and actionable error feedback

Commit behavior is predictable and aligned with Git CLI behavior.

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Stash Management

Integrated Git stash support directly inside Git Worklists.

Create Stash (Per Changelist)

• Stash all tracked changes from a selected changelist
• Automatically tags stashes with their originating changelist
• Optional custom stash message
• Safe handling of untracked files (skipped unless explicitly supported)
• Immediate UI refresh after stash

Stash List View

• Dedicated Stashes view
• Clean, readable labels (no raw stash@{0} noise)
• Displays originating changelist (e.g. [CL:changes])
• Shows branch context
• Hover tooltip includes full Git reference

Stash Actions

Per-stash context actions:

• Apply Stash – restore changes without removing stash
• Pop Stash – restore changes and remove stash
• Delete Stash – drop stash with confirmation
• Refresh support

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Git Integration

Uses Git CLI directly (no VS Code SCM provider).

Supported operations:

• git add
• git restore --staged
• git restore --staged --worktree
• git commit
• git commit --amend
• git push
• git push --force-with-lease
• git stash push
• git stash list
• git stash apply
• git stash pop
• git stash drop
• git ls-files --others --exclude-standard

All operations are executed per repository using repo-relative paths.

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Requirements

• Git installed and available in PATH
• Workspace opened inside a Git repository
• VS Code v1.109.0 or newer

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Usage

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Changelists & Commits

1. Open a Git repository in VS Code
2. Open Git Worklists from the Activity Bar
3. Stage or unstage files using checkboxes
4. Organize files into custom changelists
5. Enter a commit message
6. (Optional) enable Amend
7. Click:
   • Commit
   • Commit & Push
   • Or push existing commits without staging new changes

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Stashes

1. Right-click a changelist -> Stash changes…
2. Enter an optional stash message
3. Open the Stashes view
4. Apply, Pop, or Delete stashes as needed

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Extension Settings

This extension contributes the following settings:

gitWorklists.promptOnNewFile

• Type: boolean
• Default: true
• Shows a prompt when new files are created:
  • Add to Git
  • Keep Unversioned
  • Disable prompt

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gitWorklists.ui.closeDiffTabsAfterCommit

• Type: boolean
• Default: false
• Automatically closes diff tabs opened by Git Worklists after a successful commit.

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gitWorklists.ui.closeDiffTabsAfterPush

• Type: boolean
• Default: false
• Automatically closes diff tabs opened by Git Worklists after a successful push.

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Known Limitations

• No partial staging (no hunk / line staging)
• No multi-repository support
• Merge conflicts must be resolved manually
• Untracked files are not included in per-changelist stash by default
• GitHub / GitLab PR features are not included

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Roadmap

Planned improvements:

• Include untracked files when creating stash
• Improve refresh performance for large repositories
• UI/UX refinements for changelist view

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Release Notes

See full changelog in CHANGELOG.md

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Development Philosophy

Git Worklists intentionally avoids VS Code’s built-in SCM provider.

Instead, it builds a focused, predictable workflow using:

• Tree Views
• Commit UI
• Git CLI

The goal is clarity, explicit control, and zero hidden magic.

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Git Worklists - focused Git workflows without surprises. 🚀

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